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A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

THE  DOUKHOBORS 


BY 

AYLMER  MAUDE 

AUTHOR  OF  “TOLSTOY  AND  HIS  PROBLEMS” 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 


NEW  YORK  and  LONDON 


1 


'Z.^cyoi- 


AA  ^  "^p 


“  God’s  gift  was  just  that  man  conceive  of  truth 
And  yearn  to  gain  it,  catching  at  mistake 
As  midway  help  till  he  reach  fact  indeed.” 

Browning. 


PREFACE 


The  first  chapter  in  this  book  is  a  reprint,  with  abbre¬ 
viations  and  slight  corrections,  of  a  chapter  included  in 
the  first  (but  not  in  the  second)  edition  of  Tolstoy  and  his 
Problems. 

I  republish  it,  not  because  it  is  just  what,  after  a 
further  three  years1  attention  to  the  subject,  I  should 
say  to-day,  but  because  it  shows  how  some  of  us  who 
were  concerned  in  the  migration,  viewed  the  matter  at 
the  time  it  was  written.  As  I  then  saw  chiefly  one  side 
of  the  case,  I  was  able  to  state  that  side  perhaps  more 
forcibly  than  I  could  restate  it  now  that  circumstances 
have  obliged  me  to  pay  more  attention  to  other  phases 
of  the  matter. 

The  second  chapter  tells  of  my  own  visit  to  Canada 
with  the  first  Doukhobdr  pioneers. 

The  rest  of  the  book  owes  its  origin  to  the  “  Pilgrim¬ 
ages,11  which  showed  me  that  I  had  been  misinformed 
about  the  sect,  and  had  consequently  failed  to  tell  the 
whole  truth  about  them. 

That  my  explanation,  after  discovering  my  mistake, 
has  been  so  long  delayed  is  due  to  the  intricacy  of  the 
problem,  to  my  unwillingness  to  risk  blundering  a  second 

vii 


PREFACE 


•  •  • 
vm 

time,  and  to  a  certain  reluctance  to  challenge  opinions 
more  or  less  vouched  for  by  Tolstoy,  and  strongly  advo¬ 
cated  by  his  lieutenant,  Vladimir  Tchertkoff. 

The  chapter  on  Doukhobor  History  contains  much 
matter  new  to  English  readers,  and  gives  the  first  con¬ 
secutive  sketch,  in  our  language,  of  the  history  of  this 
interesting  sect. 

Most  of  the  illustrations  in  this  book  are  from  photo¬ 
graphs  taken  by  my  friend  Herbert  P.  Archer,  to  whom 
I  am  also  much  indebted  for  information  concerning  the 
present  condition  of  the  Canadian  Houkhobors,  among 
whom  he  is  living. 

The  frontispiece  shows  a  group  of  Houkhobors  on 
their  first  arrival  in  Canada.  It  is  from  a  photograph 
taken  by  James  A.  Smart,  Deputy  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  permission  to  re¬ 
produce  it. 


Great  Baddow, 

1st  August,  1904. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 


I. 

A  Russian  Exodus 

• 

1 

II. 

Preparations  in  Canada 

.  45  v, 

III. 

Sources  of  Doukhob6rism  . 

.  79 

IV. 

Doukhob6r  History  . 

.  Ill  * 

V. 

First  Years  in  Canada 

.  177 

VI. 

The  DoukhobOr  Pilgrimage 

.  210 

VII. 

More  about  the  Pilgrimage 

.  233 

VIII. 

Communism . 

.  246 

IX. 

A  Letter  from  Tolstoy 

.  270 

X. 

A  Criticism  of  Tolstoy 

.  278 

XI. 

Conclusion . 

.  311 

APPENDICES 

1.  Letter  from  the  Deputy  Minister  of  the  Interior  .  325 

2.  Extract  from  Privy  Council  Report  ....  327 

3.  Chronological  Summary  of  Chapters  III.  and  IV.  .  329 

INDEX .  331 


ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


1.  A  Group  of  Doukhob6rs  .... 

• 

Frontispiece 

2.  Peter  VerIgin :  the  Leader  . 

• 

facing  page  26 

3.  A  Doukhob<5r  Family  .... 

• 

n 

11 

72 

4.  WOMENKIND . 

• 

n 

11 

130 

5.  Doukhob6rs  Amused  .... 

* 

11 

11 

184 

6.  Spinning . 

11 

11 

192 

7.  Members  of  the  Leader’s  Guard,  before  1893 

11 

11 

222 

8.  Non-users  of  Horses,  fetching  Flour  from 
Yorkton  . 

11 

11 

228 

9.  Nicholas  ZIbarof:  a  Leading  Pilgrim  . 

11 

11 

234 

10.  The  Pilgrims:  a  Halt  by  the  Way 

11 

11 

238 

11.  Pilgrims  ordered  to  dress 

11 

11 

242 

12.  One  of  the  Old  School  .... 

>> 

11 

250 

13.  One  of  the  New  School. 

11 

11 

252 

14.  Flax  Threshing . 

11 

11 

256 

15.  The  Leader,  with  his  “Niece,”  inspects 
Threshing  Machine  .... 

A 

>» 

11 

318 

Map  of  Canada . 

• 

11 

50 

Map  of  Russia . 

• 

>> 

11 

122 

xi 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


CHAPTER  I 

A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 

In  a  short  story  by  Anatole  France,  entitled  Le  Procurateur 
de  Judee ,  Pontius  Pilate  explains  the  principles  which 
guided  him  in  public  life.  He  was  an  Imperialist,  and  a 
patriotic  politician,  intent  on  maintaining  the  supremacy 
of  Rome,  on  extending  the  blessing  of  the  Roman  peace, 
and  on  giving  the  benefit  of  Roman  law  and  order  to 
subject  races  whether  they  wanted  it  or  not.  Acts  which 
seem  harsh  or  even  wrong  if  judged  by  themselves,  were 
expedient  and  necessary  to  further  the  great  purpose  which, 
in  his  opinion,  overrode  questions  of  mere  morality,  or, 
rather,  set  a  standard  of  morality  different  to  that  which 
reason  and  conscience  would  demand  of  a  man  whose  first 
duty  was  not  to  a  State,  but  to  a  good  God. 

Pilate  is  represented  as  feeling  towards  the  Jews  much 
as  some  Governor-General  or  High  Commissioner  sent  out 
from  England  might  feel  towards  the  Hindoos  or  the  Boers. 
They  were  a  troublesome  lot :  too  stupid  to  see  the  advan¬ 
tages  that  would  accrue  from  the  prevalence  of  his  ideas 
over  theirs.  To  endanger  Rome’s  supremacy  out  of  regard 
for  the  life  and  liberty  of  one,  or  many,  of  them,  seemed 


2 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


to  him  ridiculous  ;  and  it  never  entered  his  head  that 
any  religious  or  moral  movement  among  a  small  sect 
of  provincial  peasants  could  be  more  important  than  his 
own  decrees,  or  would  have  more  effect,  even  on  the 
destinies  of  Rome,  than  the  life  and  doings  of  Tiberius 
Caesar  himself. 

The  insignificance,  in  his  eyes,  of  moral  movements, 
and  of  moral  as  distinguished  from  legal  and  political 
considerations,  is  well  brought  out  by  the  story.  Pilate, 
in  his  old  age,  many  years  after  his  recall  from  Judea,  is 
talking  to  a  friend  who  had  lived  in  the  East,  and  who 
had  been  an  admirer  of  a  public  dancer,  Mary  Magdalene, 
following  her  from  place  to  place,  and  losing  sight  of  her 
only  when  she  44 ‘joined  a  small  group  of  men  and  women 
who  followed  a  young  Galilean  wonder-worker.  His  name 
was  Jesus :  he  was  of  Nazareth,  and  was  sent  to  the  cross 
for  some  crime  or  other.  Do  you,  Pontius,  remember  the 
man  ?  ’ 

44  Pontius  Pilate  contracted  his  eyebrows,  and  raised 
his  hand  to  his  forehead  like  one  who  seeks  to  recall  some¬ 
thing.  Then  after  some  moments  of  silence  : — 

44  4  Jesus,’  muttered  he,  4  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  I  have  no 
recollection  of  him.’  ” 

We  need  not  be  concerned  to  defend  the  probability 
of  Anatole  France’s  story.  At  any  rate  it  succeeds  in 
causing  one  to  feel  how  great  a  difference  the  observer’s 
point  of  view  makes  to  his  estimate  of  the  importance  of 
current  events.  Photographers  sometimes  get  their  work 
out  of  focus,  but  journalists  are  in  constant  danger  of 
doing  so.  They  attach  importance  to  what  is  obvious 
and  blatant,  while  missing  the  still  small  voice  that  will 
really  influence  the  future. 

H.  D.  Lloyd  has  said,  with  as  much  truth  as  could 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


3 


well  be  packed  into  the  space,  that,  44  to  tell  us  of  the  pro¬ 
gressive  sway  of  brotherhood  in  all  human  affairs  is  the 
sole  message  of  history,” — but  who,  from  a  perusal  of  the 
leading  newspapers  of  any  country,  would  suspect  that 
the  progressive  sway  of  brotherhood  is  more  desirable  than 
the  dominance  of  one  particular  race  over  all  others  ? 

It  is  a  terrible  fact  that  people  are  brought  up  under 
the  delusion  that  the  triumph  and  expansion  of  their 
nation  is  identical  with  the  triumph  of  goodness.  National 
selfishness  is  not  seen  to  be  a  dangerous  force,  but,  under 
the  name  of  patriotism,  is  openly  extolled  as  a  virtue, 
so  that  the  smouldering  ill  will  created  by  national  and 
racial  jealousies  continually  threatens  to  break  into  flames. 

Ultimately  men  must  either  reject  the  moral  principles 
which  underlie  both  the  great  religions  of  the  world, 
Christianity  and  Buddhism  alike,  or  they  must  emancipate 
themselves  from  a  superstition  which  teaches  that  we  not 
only  do,  but  ought  to,  desire  the  advantage  of  our  own 
country  in  its  encounters  with  all  its  neighbours,  and  that 
it  is  a  noble  deed  to  share  in  obtaining  advantages  by  the 
slaughter  of  one’s  fellow-men.  We  stand  at  the  parting 
of  two  ways,  and  have  to  decide  whether  goodness  or 
patriotism  is  to  be  supreme.  We  cannot  serve  two 
masters. 

If  the  majority  of  men  are  aware  that  something  is 
seriously  wrong,  it  is  only  because  the  burden  of  continu¬ 
ally  increasing  armaments,  to  which  no  limit  can  be  fore¬ 
seen,  is  an  object-lesson  too  palpable  to  be  overlooked. 
But  the  evil  is  primarily  a  moral  evil,  and  the  remedy 
must  be  primarily  a  moral  remedy,  and  this  is  not  yet 
generally  recognized  even  among  the  minority  who  are 
anxious  to  devise  some  mechanism  of  arbitration  or  alli¬ 
ance  to  avert  the  material  ills  which  weigh  upon  us  and 


4 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


threaten  our  children.  Many  who  think  themselves 
enlightened  are  seeking  for  an  external  peace  to  be  imposed 
by  force,  and  are  willing  to  leave  the  roots  of  envy,  hatred, 
and  malice  still  unexposed. 

Were  good  will  present,  no  elaborate  machinery  would 
be  needed  to  enable  people  not  to  kill  each  other;  but 
without  good  will  the  best  machinery  will  not  work. 
Courts  of  Arbitration  may  be  established  and  may  be  very 
useful,  but  the  essential  condition  of  their  establishment 
and  utility  is  that  the  moral  aspect  of  the  question 
should  be  clearly  perceived  and  keenly  felt  by  the  peoples 
concerned. 

But,  while  the  rulers  and  the  priests  and  the  learned 
have  been  delicately  touching  the  fringe  of  this  question, 
the  Doukhobors,  a  community  of  over  seven  thousand 
Russian  peasants,  appear  to  have  radically  solved  it  for 
themselves,  by  deciding  that  they  will  not  learn  to  kill 
their  fellow-men.  The  Russian  laws  demanded  that  their 
young  men  should  enter  the  army,  but  it  is  the  busi¬ 
ness  of  those  who  make  bad  laws  to  mend  them.  A 
Doukhobors  duty  is  to  obey  God  rather  than  man. 

To  those  of  us  who  expect  that  militarism  will  ulti¬ 
mately  evoke  in  Europe,  and  probably  in  our  own  country, 
a  struggle  more  memorable  than  the  emancipation  move¬ 
ment  of  the  years  1830  to  1865  in  the  L^nited  States  of 
America,  the  story  of  the  Doukhobors  presents  itself,  not 
as  an  isolated  occurrence,  but  as  a  link  in  a  chain  which, 
commencing  before  Isaiah  foretold  that  swords  should  be 
beaten  to  ploughshares,  will  only  be  complete  when  the 
collective  slaughter  of  man  by  man  becomes — as  isolated 
murders  or  acts  of  cannibalism  now  are — abhorrent  to  the 
reason  and  the  conscience  of  the  generality  of  sane  men 
and  women. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


5 


I  should  like,  therefore,  briefly  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
Doukhobbrs,  but  to  do  so  is  not  easy. 

What  is  true  of  other  men  is  true  of  them — they  have 
not  always  lived  up  to  their  beliefs.  Like  other  sects, 
their  views  have  varied  from  man  to  man,  and  from  year 
to  year.  They  were,  for  the  most  part,  an  illiterate  folk, 
who  seldom  put  their  thoughts  on  paper.  They  accepted 
the  decisions  of  recognized  Leaders,  one  of  whom  always 
came  into  authority  as  soon  as  his  predecessor  died. 
Through  long  years  of  persecution  they  learnt  to  conceal 
their  beliefs ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  with  certainty 
and  exactitude  what,  as  a  community,  they  have  believed 
at  any  given  moment,  though  the  main  trend  of  their 
thought,  and  the  matters  of  practice  on  which  they 
differed  from  their  neighbours  are  plainly  discernible. 

A  further  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  what  has  been 
written  about  the  Doukhobors  has  seldom  been  written 
impartially.  It  has  often  been  set  down  in  order  to  make 
out  a  case  for  or  against  them.  First,  we  have  the  state¬ 
ments  made  to  justify  or  explain  their  persecutions  and 
banishments.  Many  officials  seem  to  have  considered  the 
Doukhobors  to  be  obstinate,  disloyal,  unpatriotic  sectarians, 
stupidly  preferring  their  own  opinions  to  those  of  the 
properly  constituted  authorities  in  Church  and  State. 
Orthodox  priests  and  loyal  officials  made  accusations 
which  lacked  confirmation.  Then,  from  time  to  time, 
some  renegade  Doukhobors,  expelled  perhaps  from  the 
sect  for  bad  conduct,  or  desirous  of  ingratiating  them¬ 
selves  with  the  “  powers  that  be,”  would  denounce  their 
fellows,  attuning  their  confessions  to  the  temper  and 
views  of  those  they  were  addressing.  In  this  way 
accusations  of  crime,  blasphemy,  and  conspiracy  were 
produced,  which  may  occasionally  have  contained  some 


6  A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

truth,  but  were  sometimes  concocted  merely  out  of 
malice. 

The  information  supplied  by  the  friends  of  the  Dou- 
khobors  is  more  reliable,*  but  in  Russia  not  much  has 
been  allowed  to  appear,  and  the  book  best  known  about 
them  in  England,  Christian  Martyrdom  in  Russia ,  is  un¬ 
questionably  an  ex  parte  statement.  It  is  a  book 
hastily  compiled,  inviting  subscriptions  for  the  cause ;  and 
such  works  seldom  succeed  in  stating  their  case  with 
impartiality.  Moreover,  so  fluid  a  creed  as  that  of  the 
Doukhobors  is  extremely  liable  to  be  unintentionally 
tinged  with  the  views  of  those  who  present  it,  or  who 
select  the  specimens  by  which  we  are  asked  to  judge  it. 

In  the  face  of  these  difficulties  I  cannot  wish  the  reader 
to  accept  my  presentation  of  the  matter  as  containing  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  All  I 
can  attempt  is  to  give  him  a  statement  of  the  case  as  I 
see  it. 

The  name  Dou-kho-bdrs  is  not  difficult  to  pronounce  ; 
the  “  k  ”  is  scarcely  heard  at  all,  and  the  accent  is  on  the 
last  syllable.  There  are  other  forms  of  the  name,  but  this 
is  the  simple  and  short  form  now  usually  employed. 

The  name  was  used  at  least  as  far  back  as  the  year 
1785.  Certain  Russian  sectarians  (every  one  who  believed 
anything  more  reasonable  than  the  doctrines  of  “  the 
Church  ”  was  a  heretic  or  a  sectarian)  objected  to  the 
use  of  icons  and  were  called  Iconobors  (image -wrestlers). 
On  the  same  lines  the  name  Doukhobor  (spirit-wrestler) 
was  formed,  to  describe  those  whom  the  Orthodox  Russian 
Church  considered  to  be  wrestling  against  the  Holy  Spirit. 

*  Were  I  now  (1904)  re-writing  this  chapter,  I  should  have  to  modify 
this  statement. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


7 


Like  many  other  I’eligious  nicknames  :  Quaker,  Shaker, 
Methodist,  etc.,  the  name  stuck.  It  admitted,  however, 
of  an  interpretation  which  rendered  it  innocuous,  and  the 
Doukhobdrs  claim  to  be  those  who  fight,  not  with  carnal 
weapons,  but  armed  with  the  Spirit  of  Truth.  Recently 
they  have  begun  to  call  themselves  “  The  Universal  Com¬ 
munity  of  Christian  Brotherhood,”  but  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  they  have  remained  66  Doukhobdrs/’ 

Nothing  is  definitely  known  of  the  sect,  as  a  sect,  before 
the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  a  very 
plausible  conjecture  represents  them  as  being  spiritual 
descendants  of  the  so-called  Judaizers,  who,  rejecting  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  worship  of  icons  and  of 
saints,  played  a  prominent  part  in  Novgorod  and  Moscow 
about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century ;  and,  yet  further 
back,  of  the  Paulicians,  who  figure  largely  in  the  history 
of  the  Eastern  Church  from  the  seventh  to  the  eleventh 
centuries,  and  of  the  Bogomil ites  of  the  twelfth  century. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  sect  was  founded  by  a 
Quaker  who  visited  Russia  in  the  eighteenth  century,  but 
this  is  very  doubtful.  What  comes  out  clearly  in  trying 
to  trace  the  spiritual  ancestry  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  is  the 
extent  to  which  various  branches  of  the  anti-Church 
movement  since  the  earliest  Christian  time  have  acted 
and  reacted  on  one  another. 

Orest  Novitsky,  in  his  book  on  the  Doukhobdrs, 
published  in  Kief  in  1832,  notes  the  connection  of  the 
Doukhobdrs — 

(1)  With  the  Gnostics ,  in  their  opinion  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

(2)  With  the  Manicheans ,  in  their  belief  in  an  inward 
light,  in  their  opinion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  their  belief 
in  the  pre-existence,  fall,  and  future  state  of  man’s  soul. 


8 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


(3)  With  the  Paulicians ,  in  many  matters,  and  especially 
in  their  rejection  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  and, 
in  general,  of  the  authority  of  a  visible  Church.  (The 
opinions  of  this  sect,  which  was  for  centuries  large 
and  powerful  in  the  East,  may  be  clearly  recognized 
in  many  subsequent  reform  movements  in  Western 
Christendom.) 

(4)  With  the  Anabaptists ,  in  their  Theocratic  aspira¬ 
tions  and  their  dislike  of  mundane  Governments ;  also  in 
their  repudiation  of  infant  baptism. 

(5)  With  the  early  Quakers ,  especially  in  their  belief 
in  the  Christ  within,  and  their  non-resistant  principles. 

Novitsky  further  points  out  that  when  Peter  the  Great 
suppressed  the  ancient  Moscovite  Guards,  the  Streltsi,  the 
latter’s  spirit  of  independence  and  dislike  of  authority 
found  vent  in  a  religious  direction.  The  Socinian,  Ana¬ 
baptist,  and  Calvinist  opinions,  introduced,  about  that 
time,  by  the  foreigners  in  the  service  of  Peter  the  Great, 
found  their  most  ready  converts  and  most  strenuous 
adherents  among  the  disbanded  Streltsi.  Novitsky  goes 
so  far  as  to  make  the  questionable  statement  that  “  the 
Doukhobdr  doctrine  found  its  first  spokesman  in  the 
person  of  a  Strelets, — the  well-known  Loiipkin,”  who, 
with  twenty  followers,  was  arrested,  tried,  and  imprisoned 
about  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  for  believing  that  they  received  direct  revelations 
from  the  Holy  Spirit. 

This  religious  movement  (of  which  the  above  was  but 
one  indication),  suppressed  in  Central  Russia,  spread  to 
distant  provinces.  Viewed  in  the  light  of  the  history  of 
the  Streltsi,  the  independent  spirit  of  the  Don  Cossacks 
may  help  to  explain  the  fact  that  those  sturdy  warriors, 
after  their  subjugation  by  Russia,  furnished  a  considerable 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS  9 

number  of  converts  to  the  anti-Governmental  faith  of  the 
Doukhobors. 

****** 

In  speaking  about  the  Doukhobors  and  in  acknowledg¬ 
ing  the  clearness  of  their  perception  of  certain  fundamental 
moral  principles,  and  the  heroic  tenacity  with  which  they 
have  acted  on  them,  we  must  evidently  be  on  our  guard 
against  confounding  the  sect  with  the  truths  on  which 
they  have  built  their  polity.  The  sect  has  erred  and  split  +- 
in  pieces  in  the  past.  It  is  possible  that  its  members  may 
err  yet  more  grossly  and  the  sect  disintegrate  yet  more 
completely  in  the  future,  but  the  validity  of  certain  prin¬ 
ciples  to  which  they  have  testified  will,  I  believe,  remain 
as  long  as  the  conscience  of  man  continues  to  influence  his 
actions. 

The  following  remarks,  made  by  F.  S.  Turner  in  his 
valuable  historical  and  critical  study  of  The  Quakers ,  seem 
exceedingly  applicable  to  the  Doukhobors  and  their  first 
Leaders : — 

“Fox  brought  religion  to  bear  upon  social  life  with 
extraordinary  persistency  and  success.  But  of  social  reform 
or  political  reform,  George  Fox  never  so  much  as  dreamt. 
With  him  all  life  was  religion,  and  only  hy  pure  religion 
did  he  expect  society  and  government  to  he  regenerated .” 

Again,  Turner  says,  in  words  also  strikingly  applicable 
to  the  Doukhobors  and  to  those  nearest  them  in  thought  : 

“  Amid  the  strife  of  controversy,  and  the  bitterness  of 
schisms,  we  look  in  vain  for  the  ideal  Christian  Church. 
That  unhappy  delusion  of  infallibility  marred  the  Quaker 
movement  from  its  outset.  George  Fox  never  learned  the 
full  truth  of  toleration.  He  perceived  plainly  enough  the 
folly  and  crime  of  religious  persecution ;  but  he  did  not 
see  the  mistake  and  the  mischief  of  that  mental  intolerance 


10 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


which  resents  difference  of  opinion  as  a  sin,  and  cannot 
recognize  an  identical  spiritual  life  under  a  diversity  of 
forms.  This  blemish  dwarfed  and  deformed  his  society 
from  its  birth,  and  shrivelled  into  a  sect  that  which  should 
have  blossomed  and  expanded  into  the  reunion  and  revivi¬ 
fication  of  Christendom.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  this 
sad  failure,  a  loving  eye  can  discern  the  lineaments  of  the 
ideal,  gleaming  through  these  unhappy  obscurations.*1 
****** 

To  proceed  with  Doukhobdr  history  :  Catherine  II. 
followed  a  policy  of  religious  toleration,  wisely  declaring 
that  persecution  excites  animosities.  But  the  Doukhobors 
were  oppressed  nevertheless,  for  they  were  looked  upon  as 
enemies,  not  only  of  the  Church  but  of  the  State  also,  and 
they  were  even  guilty  of  attempting  to  spread  their  views, 
which  was  an  enormity  not  covered  by  the  measure  of 
toleration  contemplated  by  Catherine. 

Paul  on  his  accession  also  adopted  a  policy  of  toleration, 
but  changed  his  mind  when,  in  1799,  some  Doukhobors 
were  arrested  in  Little-Russia  openly  preaching  that 
rulers  were  not  needed.  A  highly  dangerous  doctrine  to 
express  in  an  Empire  ruled  over  by  a  madman  whose  own 
adherents  were  preparing  to  assassinate  him  !  Thirty-one 
Doukhobors  were  sent  in  chains  to  work  in  the  mines  at 
Ekaterinburg,  “in  order  that  they  might  thereby  duly 
feel,11  as  the  ukase  expressed  it,  “  that  there  are  on  earth 
powers  ordained  by  God  as  a  firm  defence  for  good  people, 
and  for  the  terror  and  punishment  of  such  evil  doers.*1 

Alexander  I.  expressed  his  belief  that  the  persecutions 
of  the  preceding  thirty  years  had  done  no  good,  and  that 
true  Christian  principles  cannot  be  disseminated  by  such 
means.  He  allowed  many  of  the  Doukhobors  to  come 
together  from  various  parts  of  Russia  to  form  a  settlement 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


11 


of  their  own  at  the  “  Milky  Waters  ”  near  the  sea  of 
Azof ;  and  this  was  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of  the 
Doukhobdrs.  / 

From  being  a  religious  sect  held  together  by  unity  in 
opinions  and  beliefs,  anxious  to  propagate  those  views 
among  their  neighbours,  and  obliged  to  adjust  their  lives 
and  occupations  to  a  diversity  of  circumstances  and  local 
conditions,  the  Doukhobdrs  became  an  industrial  and 
economic  community,  no  longer  persecuted  for  their 
theoretical  beliefs.  When  a  sect  thus  becomes  a  com¬ 
munity,  the  interest  shifts  to  a  considerable  extent  from 
the  question,  What  did  they  believe  ?  to  the  question, 
How  did  they  live  ? 

They  ceased  to  be  propagandists,  and  became  engaged 
in  the  welfare  of  their  own  community  and  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  their  own  religion.  Their  opinions  seem  to 
have  been  but  very  little  modified  during  the  remainder 
of  the  century,  so  that  a  statement  of  what  they  believed 
a  hundred  years  ago  may  pass  almost  unaltered  for  a  state¬ 
ment  of  what  most  of  them  believe  to-day.*  Then  as 
now,  different  individuals  and  different  groups  would 
express  themselves  variously,  yet  almost  all  would  show 
a  united  front  on  matters  on  which  they  differed  from  the 
Orthodox  Russian  Church. 

The  difficulty  of  describing  the  faith  of  a  sect  composed 
of  illiterate  peasants,  who  produced  no  books,  and  whose 
propaganda  was  carried  on  by  word  of  mouth,  and  for  the 
most  part  secretly,  would  be  very  great  but  for  the  book 
already  alluded  to,  written  by  a  student  (afterwards  Pro¬ 
fessor),  Orest  Novitsky,  who  made  a  most  careful  study 
of  the  Doukhobdrs  and  their  creed.  It  was  written  as  his 

*  I  leave  this  as  I  wrote  it  in  1901.  The  reader  will,  however,  see 
from  subsequent  chapters  that  the  statement  needs  some  correction. 


12 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


thesis  for  a  Doctor’s  degree,  and  though  he  wrote  from 
the  point  of  view  of  an  Orthodox  Russian,  he  evidently 
tried  to  describe  the  Doukhobdr  beliefs  fairly.  That, 
in  the  main,  he  succeeded  in  so  doing  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  the  Doukhobdrs  themselves  eagerly 
bought  the  book,  and  when  it  was  out  of  print  the  price 
rose  to  many  pounds  per  copy  owing  to  their  anxiety  to 
possess  it. 

By  following  Novitsky  (and  in  this  account  of  their 
faith  I  have  kept  almost  to  his  words)  we  shall,  therefore, 
have  a  fair  statement  of  their  beliefs,  drawn  up  at  a  time 
when  they  already  formed  a  compact  community  (of  3985 
souls)  with  adherents  still  scattered  about  Russia,  but 
when  the  generation  was  still  alive  to  whom  the  theoretical 
opinions  of  the  sect,  and  even  the  precise  way  of  stating 
those  opinions,  had  been  matters  of  the  utmost  practical 
importance. 

Not  to  make  this  account  too  long,  I  have,  where  differ¬ 
ences  of  expression  or  of  opinion  are  recorded,  selected  those 
which  appear  to  represent  the  main  drift  of  Doukhobdr 
opinion,  and  to  correspond  best  with  the  views  current 
among  them  to-day. 

I  have  followed  Novitsky  in  classifying  the  tenets  of 
the  Doukhobdr  faith  under  the  following  heads,  and 
believe  that  his  account  thus  reproduced  will  give  the 
reader  as  faithful  and  impartial  a  sketch  of  their  opinions 
as  the  difficulties  of  the  case  admit  of. 

(i;  There  is  one  God. 

They  do  not  deny  the  Trinity,  but  the  expressions  they 
use  about  it  are  mystical,  and  sometimes  amount  to  no 
more  than  the  statement  that  God  may  be  approached 
from  three  sides. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


13 


The  Tambof  Doukhobbrs,  when  asked  whether  they 
acknowledged  the  Trinity,  replied  : 

The  Holy  Trinity  is  a  being  beyond  comprehension:  the  Father  is 
light,  the  Son  life,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  peace  ;  it  is  affirmed  in  man, 
the  Father  by  memory,  the  Son  by  reason,  the  Holy  Spirit  by  will:  the 
One  God  in  Trinity. 

This,  as  Novitsky  correctly  remarks,  rather  explains 
away  than  affirms  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

The  inclination  to  put  one’s  own  meaning  into  words 
to  which  other  people  attach  importance  is  active  among 
ourselves,  and  we  need  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  that 
the  Doukhobbrs,  a  small  minority  continually  exposed  to 
persecution,  had  recourse  to  this  practice. 

People  unwilling  to  abandon  their  opinions,  sometimes 
speak  in  this  way  from  lack  of  clearness  of  thought,  or 
from  lack  of  power  clearly  to  express  them,  but  sometimes 
also  from  the  desire  to  snatch  a  dialectic  victory,  or  in 
order  to  escape  the  ill-will,  or  propitiate  the  favour,  of 
those  who  do  not  share  their  opinions. 

“Speech  is  a  faculty  enabling  man  to  conceal  his 
thoughts,”  or  more  exactly,  as  Tennyson  has  it : 

“Words,  like  Nature,  half  reveal 
And  half  conceal  the  Soul  -within.” 

It  should  further  be  noted  that  in  the  Doukhobdr 
statements  of  belief  we  continually  find  two  different  notes. 
The  one  is  calm,  moderate,  persuasive,  couched  almost  in 
the  orthodox  phraseology  of  the  Eastern  Church,  but 
importing  a  philosophic  truth  into  the  conventional 
phrases,  and,  at  dangerous  points,  taking  refuge  in 
mysticism.  The  other  is  clear,  resolute,  radical ;  there  is 
no  mysticism  or  secrecy  about  it ;  but  it  is  often  harsh, 
contemptuous,  and  inimical,  not  merely  to  all  authority  in 


14 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Church  and  State,  but  towards  all  who  do  not  agree  at 
once  and  absolutely. 

It  answers  to  the  harshest  note  sounded  bv  the  first 

•/ 

generation  of  Quakers,  in  their  scorn  of  44  steeple-houses  ” 
and  44  hireling  priests.” 

These  two  notes  correspond,  no  doubt,  to  the  views  of 
the  milder  and  more  spiritual  Doukhobdrs  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  more  rigid  and  logical  Doukhobdrs  on  the 
other.  Looked  at  from  another  aspect,  these  different 
statements  of  their  views  may  to  some  extent  have  corre¬ 
sponded,  on  the  one  side,  to  what  they  dared  to  say,  and, 
on  the  other,  to  what  they  wished  to  say. 


(2)  Our  souls  existed  and  fell  before  the  creation  of  the  material 
universe ;  they  are  sent  here  as  to  a  prison — as  a  punishment ,  and  for 
their  reformation.  The  sin  of  Adam  is,  like  the  rest  of  the  Bible 
stories ,  figurative.  His  sin  does  not  pass  to  his  descendants,  but  each 
man  has  sinned  for  himself. 


(3)  The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour,  as  shown  in  the  Old 
Testament,  was  nothing  but  Wisdom  revealed  in  nature ;  but  in  the 
New  Testament  He  was  the  Spirit  of  piety,  purity,  etc.,  incarnate.  He 
is  born,  preaches,  suffers ,  dies,  and  rises  again  spiritually  in  the  heart 
of  each  believer. 

Here,  again,  there  is  no  denial  of  the  Jesus  who  lived 
in  Palestine  1900  years  ago,  and  it  is  open  to  anybody 
using  this  phraseology  to  think  what  they  like  about  him. 
But  the  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  44  Christ  within.”  And 
the  same  cause  of  confusion  is  present  here  as  was  present 
in  earlier  Quaker  doctrine.  Whenever  people  use  the 
same  word  for  two  different  things  ( e.g .  for  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  and  for  the  spirit  which  actuates  man’s  con¬ 
science)  they  are  in  danger  of  not  quite  knowing  what 
they  mean  themselves. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


15 


In  another  part  of  his  book,  Novitsky  remarks  that 
some  Doukhobors  of  his  day  said  of  Jesus  Christ  that 

“  He  is  the  Son  of  God,  hut  in  the  same  sense  in  which  we  also  are 
Sons  of  God.  Our  elders  know  even  more  than  Christ  did  :  go  and  hear 
themf  Of  miracles  they  said,  “  We  believe  that  he  performed  mir¬ 
acles  ;  we  ourselves  were  dead  in  sin ,  blind,  and  deaf,  and  he  has 
raised  us  up,  pardoned  our  sins  and  given  us  his  commandment ;  but 
of  bodily  miracles  we  know  nothing.” 

It  would  be  easy  on  other  points  to  give  similar 
instances  of  the  fact  that  the  Doukhobbr  faith  admitted 
of  considerable  divergence  of  view. 


(4)  For  our  salvation  it  is  not  essential  to  have  an  external  know¬ 
ledge  of  Jesus  Christ ;  for  there  is  the  inward  word  which  reveals  him 
in  the  depths  of  our  souls.  It  existed  in  all  ages,  and  enlightens  all  who 
are  ready  to  receive  it,  whether  they  be  nominally  Christians  or  not. 


(5)  Those  enlightened  by  the  spirit  of  God  will  after  death  rise 
again, — what  will  become  of  other  people  is  uncertain.  It  is  the  soul 
and  not  the  body  that  will  rise,  said  the  Tambof  Doukhobors,  while 
the  Ekaterinoslaf  Doukhobors  mentioned  a  body  also,  but  a  new, 
heavenly  body. 

Desires  reaching  man  through  his  senses  of  hearing,  seeing,  smelling, 
tasting ,  or  touching,  including  sexual  desire,  sow  the  seeds  of  f  uture 
torment.  The  craving  for  honours  now  torments  the  ambitious  man , 
and  the  craving  for  drink  the  drunkard — but  much  more  will  those 
who  have  sown  the  seeds  of  such  desire  be  tormented  in  the  future  life, 
when  they  will  not  be  able  to  gratify  the  passions  which  will  nevertheless 
grow  stronger  and  stronger. 

The  fire  of  abuse  and  contempt  will  burn  and  torment  those  who 
have  striven  for  honours  ;  the  fire  of  aversion,  shame,  and  loathing  will 
be  the  consequence  of  impure  love  ;  and  the  flames  of  fury ,  enmity, 
revenge,  rancour,  and  implacability  will  punish  anger. 

If  this  is  the  result  of  sowing  evil  passions  in  this  life ,  on  the  other 
hand  the  result  of  sowing  good  seed  will  be  continued  growth  towards 
perfection  till  the  purified  souls  become  like  God  Himself. 


(G)  Our  bodies  are  cages  restraining  and  confining  our  souls,  and 


16 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


as  the  passions  sow  the  seeds  of  evil,  we  should  deny  our  lower  selves , 
forego  what  pleases  our  senses,  and  thus  weaken  their  power  over  our 
souls.  C(  If  the  desire  for  fame  is  condemned  among  them,  yet  more,” 
says  Novitsky  in  another  place,  “  is  luxury  in  food  or  dress,  because 
luxury,  indulging  the  flesh,  strengthens  it  to  stifle  the  inward  light 
coming  from  above  f 

(7)  Inasmuch  as  all  men  are  equal,  and  the  children  of  God  do 
good  willingly,  without  coercion ,  they  do  not  require  any  government  or 
authority  over  them.  Government,  if  needed  at  all,  is  needed  only  for 
the  wicked.  * 

To  go  to  war,  to  carry  arms,  and  to  take  oaths — is  forbidden. 
“  Regarding  war  as  a  forbidden  thing,  they  say  they  have  set  them - 
selves  a  rule  not  to  carry  arms,”  remarks  Novitsky. 

(8)  The  Church  is  a  society  selected  by  God  Himself.  It  is  invisible 
and  is  scattered  over  the  whole  world ;  it  is  not  marked  externally  by  any 
common  creed.  Not  Christians  only  but  Jews,  Mohammedans  and 
others  may  be  members  of  it,  if  only  they  hearken  to  the  inward  word  ; 
and  therefore — 


(9)  The  Holy  Scriptures,  or  the  outer  word,  are  not  essential  for  the 
sons  of  God.  It  is,  however,  of  use  to  them  because  in  the  Scriptures, 
as  in  nature  and  in  ourselves ,  they  read  the  decrees  and  the  acts  of  the 
Lord.  But  the  Scriptures  must  be  understood  symbolically  to  represent 
things  that  are  inward  and  spiritual.  It  must  all  be  understood  to 
relate  in  a  mystical  manner  to  the  Christ  within. 


(10)  The  Christ  within  is  the  only  true  Hierarch  and  Priest. 
Therefore  no  external  priest  is  necessary.  In  whomever  Christ  lives , 
he  is  Christ’s  heir,  and  is  himself  a  priest  unto  himself.  The  priests 
of  temples  made  with  hands  are  appointed  externally,  and  can  perform 
only  what  is  external:  they  are  not  what  they  are  usually  esteemed 
to  be. 

The  sons  of  God  should  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and,  there¬ 
fore,  need  no  external  worship  of  God.  The  external  sacraments  have 
no  efficacy  ;  they  should  be  understood  in  a  spiritual  sense.  To  baptize 


*  Their  doctrine  “  reaches  even  to  social  intercourse  among  people : 
external  position  has  no  importance,  for  by  nature  all  men  are  akin  and 
equals _o.ne  of  another 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


17 


a  child  with  water  is  unbecoming  for  a  Christian ;  an  adult  baptizes 
himself  with  the  word  of  truth,  and  is  then  baptized,  indeed,  by  the  true 
priest,  Christ,  with  spirit  and  with  fire. 

True  Confession  is  heartfelt  contrition  before  God,  though  we  may 
also  confess  our  sins  one  to  another  when  occasion  presents  itself. 

The  external  Sacraments  of  the  Church  are  offensive  to  God,  for 
Christ  desires  not  signs  but  realities  ;  the  real  communion  comes  by  the 
word,  by  thought,  and  by  faith. 

Marriage  should  be  accomplished  without  any  ceremonies  ;  it  needs 
only  the  will  of  those  who  have  come  of  age  and  who  are  united  in  love 
to  one  another,  the  consent  of  the  parents,  and  an  inward  oath  and  vow, 
before  all-seeing  God,  in  the  souls  of  those  who  are  marrying,  that  they 
will  to  the  end  of  their  days  remain  faithful  and  inseparable.  An 
external  marriage  ceremony,  apart  from  the  inward  marriage,  has  no 
meaning  :  it  has  at  most  this  effect,  that,  being  performed  before  wit¬ 
nesses,  it  maintains  the  bond  between  the  spouses  by  the  fear  of  shame 
should  they  break  the  promise  of  fidelity  they  have  given. 

The  Priesthood  is  not  an  office  reserved  for  specially  selected  people. 
Each  real  Christian,  enlightened  by  the  word,  may  and  should  pray  to 
God  for  himself,  and  should  spread  the  truth  that  has  been  entrusted  to 
him. 

“  What  am  I,  then  ?  A  temple  to  the  Lord  most  high. 

The  Altar  and  the  Priest,  the  Sacrifice  am  I. 

Our  Hearts  the  Altars  are  ;  our  Wills  the  Offering  ; 

Our  Souls  they  are  the  Priests,  our  Sacrifice  to  bring.  ” 

The  forms  of  worship  of  all  the  external  Churches  in  the  world,  their 
various  institutions,  all  the  ranks  and  orders  of  their  servants,  their 
costumes  and  movements,  were  invented  after  the  time  of  the  Apostles — 
those  men  of  holy  wisdom — and  are  in  themselves  naught  but  dead  signs, 
mere  figures  and  letters,  externally  representing  that  sacred,  invisible, 
living  and  wise  power  of  God,  which  ( like  the  sun’s  rays)  enlightens  and 
pervades  the  souls  of  the  elect ,  and  lives  and  acts  in  them,  purifying 
them,  and  uniting  them  to  God. 

To  pray  in  temples  made  with  hands  is  contrary  to  the  injunction 
of  the  Saviour  :  “  When  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thine  inner  chamber, 
and  having  shut  the  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret  f 
(Matt.  vi.  6.) 

Yet  a  son  of  God  need  not  fear  to  enter  any  temples — Papal, 
Greek,  Lutheran,  Calvinist,  or  other  :  to  him  they  are  all  indifferent, 

taught  Sylvan  Kolesnikof,  whom  the  Ekaterinoslaf  Doukhobors  at 

c 


18  A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  looked  upon  as  the  founder  of 
their  sect. 

His  successors  went  a  step  further  and  added  that,  all  the  cere¬ 
monies  of  the  Churches ,  being  useless ,  were  much  better  left  alone. 


(11)  Icons  they  do  not  respect  or  worship ,  but  consider  as  idols. 

The  Saints  may  be  respected  for  their  virtues ,  but  should  not  be 
prayed  to. 

Fasting  should  consist  in  fleeing  from  lusts  and  refraining  from 
superfluities. 

The  Decrees  of  the  Churches  and  the  Councils  should  not  be 
accepted. 


(12)  The  Church  has  no  right  to  judge  or  to  sentence  any  one ;  for 
it  cannot  know  all  mans  inward ,  secret  motives. 


Such  is  Novftskv's  account  of  the  faith  of  the  Dou- 

%> 

khobors.  Writing  in  condemnation  of  their  opinions,  and 
ever  ready  to  attribute  any  evil  he  notes  among  them  to 
the  effects  of  their  unorthodoxy,  he  yet  bears  witness  as 
follows  : — “  To  the  credit  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  one  must 
say  that  they  are  sober,  laborious,  and  frugal ;  that  in 
their  houses  and  clothing  they  are  careful  to  be  clean  and 
tidy ;  that  they  are  attentive  to  their  agriculture  and 
cattle-breeding,  occupations  which  have  been  and  still  are 
their  chief  employment.” 

He  bears  no  testimony  to  their  having  been  vegetarians 
or  total  abstainers  from  intoxicants  in  his  time,  though  he 
alludes  to  the  food  and  drink  question  more  than  once. 
With  reference  to  their  disapproval  of  war,  besides  a  clear 
statement  of  their  principles,  he  incidentally  mentions  more 
than  one  instance  of  Doukhobdrs  refusing  the  army-service. 
For  instance  :  “  In  1820,  when  some  Doukhobdrs  taken  as 
recruits  refused  to  take  the  oath  or  to  serve  because  it 
was  contrary  to  their  religion,  the  Council  of  State 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


19 


decreed :  4  without  releasing  them  from  any  State  obliga¬ 
tion,  to  abstain  from  compelling  them  to  take  the  oath 
in  any  form  or  manner  whatever  ’ ;  and  this  enactment, 11 
remarks  Novitsky,  44  was  Imperially  confirmed  for  ever.'1 
Read  to-day  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  recent 
persecution,  the  remark  reads  rather  strangely. 

As  became  a  member  of  the  Orthodox  Russian  Church, 
writing  a  book  that  was  to  issue  from  the  printing-press  of 
the  Kief-Catacomb  Monastery,  Novitsky  is  emphatic  as  to 
the  failings  of  the  Doukhobbrs  ;  but  the  evident  care  with 
which  his  account  is  compiled,  and  the  fact  that  the  faults 
he  attributes  to  them  are  those  to  which  they  are  most 
prone  to-day,  entitle  him  to  be  heard  on  the  matter. 

He  says  that  superstition,  anger,  and  quarrels  were 
prevalent  among  them,  and  44  the  distinguishing  trait  in 
their  character  is  obstinacy  in  their  doctrine,  insubordina¬ 
tion  to  the  Authorities,  insults  and  slanders  towards  those 
who  differ  from  them.11  44  They  are  very  eager  to  get 
money.11  44  They  consider  themselves  more  enlightened 
than  all  who  differ  from  them,11  (Which,  by  the  way, 
is  a  trait  not  peculiar  to  Doukhobors.) 

Since  they  have  been  collected  into  one  community, 
he  reports  44  the  dissensions  and  agitations  whereby  they 
formerly  so  often  disturbed  the  public  order  have  ceased, 
but  the  sect  itself  has  seethed  and  surged  with  many 
passions.11 

44  Formerly  the  Doukhobbrs  expelled  certain  members 
from  their  community  for  certain  acts :  to-day  such  expul¬ 
sions  no  longer  occur ;  but  if  any  one  in  their  opinion  does 
not  quite  partake  of  the  Spirit,  such  a  one  is  subjected  to 
slander,  and  in  consequence,  under  various  pretexts,  is 
greatly  persecuted.11 

It  is,  at  the  present  day,  remarkable  to  what  an  extent 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


20 

the  will  of  the  individual  Doukhobdr  appears  to  be  sub¬ 
jected  to  the  communal  conscience.  And  the  suggestion 
of  a  certain  amount  of  social  tyranny  as  one  of  the 
agencies  which  have  made  them  what  they  now  are, 
should  not  be  entirely  put  aside,  even  after  full  allowance 
has  been  made  for  the  unifying  effects  of  a  common,  simple, 
and  laborious  life,  among  religious  and  serious  people. 

Of  the  fact  that,  in  common  with  many  other  religious 
disputants,  they  were  not  above  twisting  facts  to  suit  their 
theories,  Novitsky  gives  the  following  instance  : — 

“  Affirming  to  strangers  not  belonging  to  their  sect 
that  they  have  no  need  of  an  external  revelation,  they  will 
state  that  they  have  no  Bible  among  them ;  yet,  to  all 
questions  put  to  them  concerning  their  faith,  they  reply 
with  words  chosen  from  the  Holy  Scriptures.’1 

If  they  were  more  cautious  than  most  Christians  of 
asserting  the  Incarnation  of  Jesus,  they  had,  according  to 
Novitsky,  less  hesitation  in  attributing  divinity  to  other 
“sons  of  God.”  “It  is  known,”  says  he,  “that  in  1816 
they  chose  Kapoiistin”  (who  was  their  Leader  though 
Novitsky  does  not  mention  this),  “  and  on  holidays  bowed 
before  him  as  before  the  Deity.”  “  They  have  many  other 
superstitious  customs,  which,  however,  they  diligently  hide 
from  other  people.” 

Of  the  theory  and  intention  of  their  community 
Novitsky  says :  “  And  thus  it  is  an  Ultra-Theocracy,  in 
which  everything,  not  only  in  the  inner  life  of  the  Christian, 
but  also  in  the  external  life  of  the  citizen,  is  to  take  place 
under  the  immediate  control,  and  with  the  co-operation, 
of  the  Deity  Himself,  by  means  of  inward,  universal 
inspiration  and  revelation  from  above.” 

As  to  the  gap  which  existed — and  always  exists — 
between  what  was  aimed  at  and  what  was  achieved. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


21 


Novitsky  is  explicit  enough.  But  his  account  leaves  the 
impression  that  then,  as  now,  the  sect  had  less  of  violence, 
crime,  vice,  poverty,  superstition,  luxury  or  wretchedness 
among  them  than  was  common  among  their  neighbours. 
And  if  we  are  to  compare  creed  with  creed,  let  us  be 
careful  also  to  compare  people  with  people.  If  only  men 
in  general  would  compare  what  they  themselves  are  doing 
with  what  other  people  are  aiming  at  (instead  of  doing 
just  the  opposite  and  contrasting  their  own  ideals  with 
the  results  attained  by  others),  there  would  be  more 
humility  and  toleration  even  in  our  opinion  of  the 
heathen  Chinee. 

In  practice  the  Doukhobor  Theocracy  became,  in  course" 
of  time,  a  one-man  power,  based  to  some  extent  on  custom, 
also  partly  on  superstition,  and  more  absolute  than  most 
monarchies. 

The  rejection  of  all  Church  rites  has  not  prevented  the 
establishment,  by  custom,  of  meetings  for  worship,  with 
forms  as  definite  and  as  strictly  maintained  as  those  of 
most  Churches. 

But  with  all  their  limitations  and  deficiencies,  with 
their  history  for  nearly  a  century  before  us,  one  may 
fairly  say  of  the  Doukhobors  that  (except  in  times  of 
external  persecution)  without  any  Government  founded 
on  force,  they  have  managed  their  affairs  better  than  their 
neighbours  have  done  :  with  no  army  or  police,  they  have 
suffered  little  from  crimes  of  violence  ;  and  without  priests 
or  ministers,  they  have  had  more  practical  religion,  and 
more  intelligible  guidance  for  their  spiritual  life.  Without 
doctors  or  medicine  or  bacteriologists  (and  though  ignorant 
even  of  the  first  principles  of  ventilation)  they  have  been, 
on  the  average,  healthier  and  stronger  than  most  other 
races.  'jAVithout  political  economists,  wealth  among  them 


/ 


/ 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


has  been  better  distributed,  and  they  have  (apart  from  the 
effects  of  persecution)  suffered  far  less  from  extremes  of 
wealth  and  poverty.  Without  lawyers  or  written  laws, 
they  have  settled  their  disputes.  Without  books,  they 
have  educated  their  children  to  be  industrious,  useful, 
peaceable,  and  God-fearing  men  and  women,  have 
instructed  them  in  the  tenets  of  their  religion,  and 
taught  them  to  produce  the  food,  clothing,  and  shelter 
needed  for  themselves  and  for  others. 

As  a  community  they  are  to-day  abstainers  from 
alcohol,  non-smokers,  and,  for  the  most  part,  vegetarians. 
Their  vegetarianism  seems  to  have  been  strict  during  the 
persecution  from  1895  to  1898,  but  to  have  relaxed  in 
Canada,  where  some  of  them  are  located  near  lakes  or 
rivers  teeming  with  fish  which  they  catch  and  eat. 

Their  doctrine  that  men  gifted  with  reason  and  con¬ 
science  should  not  use  physical  violence  one  to  another, 
but  should  influence  one  another  by  the  appeal  of  mind  to 
mind  and  of  soul  to  soul,  is  essentially  anarchistic  (in  the 
best  sense  of  that  word),  and  it  is  naturally  disliked  by  all 
authorities  whose  reliance  is  on  sword  or  truncheon.  In 
Russia  the  alliance  between  Church  and  State  is  exceed¬ 
ingly  close.  The  “  render  unto  Caesar  11  text  is  worked 
even  harder  than  among  ourselves,  and  is  held  to  imply 
that  the  rendering  unto  Coosar  of  heart  and  mind  and 
soul  and  strength  is  a  virtue.  “The  powers  that  be'” 
are  held  to  be  not  merely  “  ordained  by  God,11  but  to  be 
approved  of  by  God,  whatever  line  of  conduct  they  pursue. 
To  resist  them  is  to  resist  God,  and  their  most  iniquitous 
proceedings  are  as  sacrosanct  in  the  eyes  of  the  official 
Church  as  any  war  policy  of  an  English  Government  is 
in  the  eyes  of  pot-house  patriots,  or  of  a  majority  of  our 
own  priests  and  bishops. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


23 


Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
measure  of  toleration  extended  under  Alexander  I.  was 
not  of  long  duration.  Possibly  the  folly  or  misconduct 
of  certain  Doukhobdrs  afforded  an  excuse  ;  but,  at  any  rate, 
the  Doukhobdrs  were  ultimately  banished  from  the  “  Milky 
Waters”  to  the  Wet  Mountains  in  Georgia. 

A  Committee  of  Ministers  held  in  Petersburg  on 
February  6,  1826,  with  reference  to  a  project  of  trans¬ 
porting  to  the  Caucasus  some  Cossacks  who  had  become 
Doukhobdrs,  expressed  the  opinion  that :  “  The  utility 
of  this  measure  is  evident ;  being  transported  to  the 
extreme  borders  of  the  Caucasus,  and  being  always  con¬ 
fronted  by  the  hillsmen,  they  must  of  necessity  protect 
their  property  and  families  by  force  of  arms.”  In  fact, 
the  probability  seemed  very  great  that  in  the  Caucasus, 
where  war  was  continually  going  on,  the  Doukhobdrs 
might  be  exterminated  unless  they  abandoned  their 
principles. 

Some  fifteen  years  later  this  plan  of  transportation 
was  applied  to  the  main  body  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  but, 
when  carried  out,  its  results  were  not  what  had  been 
expected. 

The  wild  hill  tribes  were  favourably  impressed  by  their 
non-resistant  neighbours,  who,  when  molested,  neither 
retaliated  nor  sought  police  protection  ;  and  on  coming 
to  know  the  Doukhobdrs,  the  Mohammedan  tribes  in  their 
vicinity  decided  that  they  were  a  worthy  people  deserving 
protection,  and  that  they  were  certainly  not  Christians. 
“  We  know  the  Christians,”  said  they ;  “  the  Christians 
always  fight.”  These  new-comers  evidently  belonged  to 
a  better  religion,  for  they  tried  to  return  good  for  evil. 
So  the  Mohammedans  concluded  that  this  sober,  God¬ 
fearing,  industrious  folk  were  inheritors  of  the  True 


24 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Faith,  which  they — the  ignorant  Mohammedan  natives  of 
the  district — had  forgotten  or  neglected.* 

The  climate  of  the  W et  Mountains  was  severe.  Situate 
six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level,  wheat  could  not  be 
cultivated,  and  even  barley  grew  there  with  difficulty. 
But  the  Doukhobors,  by  industry,  mutual  helpfulness, 
and  simplicity  of  life,  succeeded  in  prospering ;  and  as 
time  went  on  they  spread  out,  and  fifty  years  later  we  find 
them  numbering  some  twenty  thousand  people  settled  in 
three  parts  of  the  Caucasus.  One  of  the  settlements  was 
in  that  part  of  what  used  to  be  Georgia,  now  known  as  the 
Tiflis  Government ;  another  was  in  the  Elizavetpdl  Govern¬ 
ment,  and  a  third  in  Russian  Armenia,  now  called  the 
“  Kars  Territory.”  They  occupied  themselves  in  agri¬ 
culture,  in  breeding  cattle,  and  as  waggoners,  and  one 
way  or  another  they  prospered  and  became  a  wrell-to-do 
peasantry. 

After  the  death  of  Loukerya  Vasilyevna  Kalmikova, 
who  for  many  years  after  the  death  of  her  husband  acted 
as  the  Chieftainess  of  the  Doukhobors,  a  quarrel  arose  as 
to  the  disposal  of  a  considerable  property  which  had  been 
in  her  charge.  The  majority  (the  “Large  Party”)  of 
the  Doukhobors  acknowledged  Peter  Verigin  as  the  real 
heir  to  the  Leadership,  and  to  the  charge  of  the  com¬ 
munal  property.  Others  (the  “  Small  Party  ”)  sided  with 
L.  V.  Kalmi kova’s  brother,  who  claimed  the  management 
of  the  estate.  Appeal  was  made  to  the  Russian  law. 
This  indicates  how  bitter  the  dispute  w^s,  and  how  far 
the  Doukhobors  had  strayed  from  their  principles,  for  no 

*  The  authenticity  of  this  story  is  doubtful.  It  was  current  among 
those  who  sympathized  with  the  Doukhobor  migration,  but  I  am  afraid 
it  hardly  tallies  with  what  little  is  authentically  known  of  the  relation 
of  the  Doukhobors  to  other  sects  and  tribes.  (1904.) 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


25 


use  of  the  Russian  law-courts  had  been  made  by  them  for 
some  fifty  years  previously.  The  property  was  adjudged  to 
belong  to  L.  V.  Kalmikdva’s  brother,  and  the  Doukhobdrs 
split  into  two  hostile  groups. 

Since  they  first  settled  at  the  “Milky  Waters’1  they 
have  had  six  Leaders — 

1.  Savely  Kapoustin. 

2.  Vasily  Kalmikdf. 

3.  Ilaridn  Kalmikdf. 

4.  Peter  Kalmikdf. 

5.  His  wife,  L.  V.  Kalmikdva. 

6.  Peter  Verigin. 

Against  the  second  and  third  of  these,  grave  but  un¬ 
verified  charges  have  been  made.  As  already  mentioned, 
the  manner  of  selection  of  these  Leaders,  and  the  degree 
of  authority  wielded  by  them,  is  a  knotty  point.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  some  accounts,  the  Doukhobdr  Leaders  have  (like 
so  many  other  rulers)  left  much  to  be  desired  in  the  way 
of  sexual  morality.  This,  if  true,  is  all  the  more  remark¬ 
able  because  the  Doukhobdrs  are  far  from  being  loose  in 
such  matters.  It  would,  I  believe,  not  be  easy  to  find  a 
body  of  people  equally  large,  among  whom  there  is  less 
immorality,  or  among  whom  the  family  bond  is  more 
regarded.  Whether  any  special  relaxation  of  the  moral 
law,  such  as  that  which  Mohammed  claimed  for  himself, 
or  such  as  is  often  allowed  to  the  members  of  our  royal 
families,  was  accorded  to  the  Doukhobdr  Leaders,  I  am 
unable  to  say.  There  seems  to  be  something  mysterious 
about  the  matter,  which  the  Doukhobdrs  are  reluctant  to 
have  investigated  even  by  those  who  sympathize  with  them 
in  their  general  views. 

Verigin,  though  said  to  have  been  wild  in  his  youth, 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


has  since  showed  himself  to  be  a  man  of  capacity  and 
has  taken  an  interest  in  questions  of  religion  and  morality. 
He  prompted  a  marked  religious  revival  in  the  sect,  among 
the  outward  manifestations  of  which  were  a  redistribution 
of  possessions,  the  reintroduction  of  communist  practices, 
strict  abstinence  from  strong  drinks  and  tobacco,  the 
destruction  of  all  such  arms  as  any  of  the  Doukhobdrs 
of  the  Large  Party  possessed,  and  an  adherence  to  non- 
resistant  principles. 

This  brings  us  to  a  crisis  in  the  history.  The  Con¬ 
scription,  by  which  almost  all  healthy  adult  males  became 
liable  for  army  service,  was  introduced  into  the  Caucasus 
in  1887.  At  first  the  Doukhobdrs  complied  with  the  law 
and  let  their  young  men  enter  the  army,  warning  them, 
however  (it  is  said),  not  to  become  murderers,  and  to  be 
sure,  if  they  had  to  go  to  battle,  to  shoot  high  so  as  not 
to  hit  anybody. 

They  had  for  many  years  lived  at  peace  with  the 
authorities.  It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  it  took 
them  some  time  to  muster  resolution  to  refuse  Conscrip¬ 
tion.  But  when  the  revival  among  the  “  Large  Party  ” 
took  place,  the  question  of  war  and  army  service  was  re¬ 
considered,  and  it  was  agreed  among  them  that  they 
would  no  longer  learn  to  slay  their  fellow-men.  They 
thus  came  into  line,  on  this  matter,  with  the  Quakers,  the 
Mennonites,  the  Austrian  sect  of  Nazarenes,  the  other 
non-resistant  bodies,  and  with  the  opinions  they  had 
themselves  professed,  and  to  some  extent  practised,  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 

Characteristically  enough,  among  the  Doukhobdrs  the 
decision  to  refuse  army  service  was  taken  in  consequence 
of  a  message  sent  early  in  1895  by  Peter  Verigin.  He 
had  been  exiled  to  Kola  in  the  Government  of  Archangel, 


'  -  % 


PETER  VERIGIN  :  THE  LEADER  (1903.) 


Plate  II 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


27 


but,  as  he  found  means  to  continue  to  influence  the  Dou- 
khobors  from  that  place,  his  removal  to  still  less  accessible 
quarters  near  the  mouth  of  the  Obi  in  Siberia  was  decided 
on.  On  his  way  from  Kola  to  Siberia  he  was  brought  to 
Moscow,  and  was  there  visited  by  Doukhobdrs,  through 
whom  he  sent  the  message  referred  to. 

A  severe  persecution  was  the  result  of  the  refusal.  It 
is  difficult  to  apportion  the  blame  between  the  Petersburg 
Government  and  the  local  authorities,  but  it  is  clear  that 
the  latter  commenced  the  persecution,  and  to  some  extent 
misreported  what  they  had  done  to  the  higher  authorities. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  the  Government  found  them¬ 
selves  in  a  very  uncomfortable  position.  The  more  clearly 
the  thought  that  men  should  help  and  not  harm  each 
other  is  expressed,  the  more  certainly  it  is  seen  to  be 
true.  The  more  sincerely  the  spirit  of  Christianity  is 
considered,  the  more  plainly  is  it  seen  to  make  for  peace 
and  good  will,  even  towards  enemies  and  foreigners.  These 
thoughts,  when  backed  by  the  example  of  men  willing  to 
be  killed  rather  than  to  kill  others,  spread  quickly.  Cases 
had  occurred  in  which  guards  escorting  sectarians  who 
were  non-resistants,  were  converted  by  their  prisoners  on 
the  road,  or  on  board  ship,  on  their  way  to  Sagalin, 
and  the  fact  that  the  w'hole  military  machine  may  some 
day  go  to  pieces  began  to  suggest  itself  to  those  in  power. 

To  continue  persecution  under  such  circumstances  is 
dangerous,  yet  to  allow  exemptions  on  religious  grounds 
is  hardly  possible  in  a  military  empire.  Were  the  Dou- 
khobbrs  exempted  from  Conscription,  they  would  probably 
soon  out-number  the  Orthodox.  For,  in  general,  the 
Russian  peasant,  struggling  to  escape  from  the  constant 
danger  of  famine,  no  more  wishes  to  have  his  son  taken 
for  army  service,  than  our  famine-threatened  subjects  in 


28 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


India  wish  to  be  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  a  scientific 
north-west  frontier  to  guard  against  those  same  poor 
Russian  peasants. 

The  authorities  were  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  a 
compact  body  of  men,  numbering  several  thousands,  had 
adopted  peace-at-any-price  principles,  and  were  asserting 
that  it  is  wrong  for  men  to  kill  one  another.  As  among 
us  there  is  no  longer  any  question  of  the  comparative  cost 
of  slave-labour  versus  wage-labour,*  but  we,  as  a  matter 
of  principle,  have  renounced  all  right  to  own  our  fellow 
men,  so  it  was  no  question  of  expediency  with  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  :  they  decided  the  matter  on  the  ground  that  a 
man  should  be  ready  to  die  rather  than  to  do  wrong,  and 
that  to  slay  our  fellow-men  is  wrong.  Not  even  the  power 
of  the  Russian  Empire  could  induce  them  to  yield  the 
point.  They  no  more  shrank  from  being  peaceful  at  any 
price,  than  the  best  men  among  us  shrink  from  being 
honest  at  any  price,  or  truthful  at  any  price. 

The  first  Doukhobors  to  suffer  in  this  recent  persecu¬ 
tion  were  those  who  were  serving  in  the  army  at  the  time. 
They  laid  down  their  arms,  explaining  that,  as  Christians, 
they  could  no  longer  learn  war.  But  it  is  the  very 
essence  of  the  military  system  that  when  once  a  man  has 
taken  oaths  of  allegiance  and  obedience,  he  ceases  to  be 
a  free  man  actuated  by  reason  and  conscience,  and 
becomes  an  automaton  ; 

“  Theirs  not  to  reason  why, 

Theirs  but  to  ” — kill  or  die. 

And  it  was  only  natural  that  soldiers  who  still  ventured 

*  The  reader  will  please  remember  that  this  was  written  in  1901, 
before  anything  was  heard  of  the  restrictions  under  which  indentured 
Chinese  labourers  now  work  in  our  South  African  gold  mines. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


29 


to  question  the  right  and  wrong  of  what  they  were 
doing,  should  be  court-martialled.  The  first  twelve 
tried  were  sentenced  to  confinement  in  the  Ekaterino- 
grad  penal-battalion,  and  were  there  subjected  to  a  long 
series  of  continually  renewed  punishments — floggings,  con¬ 
finement  in  a  cold,  dark  cell,  a  diet  of  bread  and  water, 
and  many  other  hardships.  In  August  1896,  Michael 
Sherbinin  died,  done  to  death  by  floggings  and  by  the 
brutal  treatment  accorded  to  him  in  the  penal-battalion 
gymnasium.  He  was  not  the  first  or  by  any  means  the 
only  martyr  among  the  Doukhobors  who  suffered  violent 
death  for  his  principles.  But  the  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth — and  neither  oaths  of  allegiance  nor  the  stupefying 
effects  of  discipline  can  be  depended  on  permanently  to 
shut  out  from  men’s  hearts  and  minds  the  ideals  of  the 
prophets  and  the  aspirations  of  the  saints.  When  the 
test  came,  events  showed  that  among  these  common, 
illiterate  Doukhobors,  along  with  obvious  faults  and 
limitations  of  their  own,  their  dwelt  a  large  measure  of 
the  spirit  of  martyrs  and  the  courage  of  heroes ;  and  so 
wonderful  are  the  workings  of  the  holy  spirit,  that  those 
whose  faults  and  limitations  in  ordinary  life  may  be 
patent  to  all  candid  observers,  may  yet  be  found  faithful 
unto  death  in  the  day  of  trial. 

At  last,  in  the  autumn  of  1896,  an  order  was  issued 
that  those  who  refused  military  service  on  religious 
grounds  should  not  be  kept  in  military  places  of  detention. 
Since  then  the  fate  of  those  who,  being  already  soldiers, 
refused  to  serve  (as  also  of  many  who  refused  to  enter  the 
army),  has  been  strangely  various.  Many  were  punished 
with  different  degrees  of  severity — imprisonment,  banish¬ 
ment  for  various  terms,  and  floggings  of  various  degrees, 
while  a  few  escaped  almost  free  from  punishment.  Some, 


30 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


unable  to  withstand  the  pressure  put  upon  them,  yielded 
to  the  demands  made. 

The  authorities  were  much  perplexed  how  to  act, 
and  their  chief  anxiety  was  lest  the  news  of  what  was 
going  on  should  spread.  The  Russian  press  was  forbidden 
to  allude  to  the  matter,  and  any  outsider  found  visiting 
the  Doukhobors  was  expelled.  Among  those  thus  expelled 
was  Captain  Arthur  St.  John,  who  visited  them  in  the 
Caucasus,  and  afterwards  went  both  to  Cyprus  and  to 
Canada  on  their  behalf. 

The  Doukhobors  were  not  without  their  sympathizers, 
even  among  the  officials.  Take,  for  instance,  the  follow¬ 
ing  passage  from  Christian  Martyrdom  in  Russia ,  de¬ 
scribing  the  trial  of  seven  Doukhobors  for  refusing  to 
draw  lots  at  the  Conscription  of  1895  in  the  town  of 
Dushet.  It  is  but  one  among  many  cases  that  could  be 
quoted  : 

44  The  Judge  :  6  And  why  do  you  refuse  ?  ’ 

44  Glagblief :  4  Because  we  do  not  wish  to  enter  the 
military  service,  knowing  beforehand  that  such  service  is 
against  our  conscience,  and  we  prefer  to  live  according  to 
our  conscience  and  not  in  opposition  to  it.  .  .  .  We 
would  not  draw  lots  because  we  do  not  wish  to  have  any 
share  in  a  business  which  is  contrary  to  the  will  of  God 
and  to  our  conscience." 

44  The  Judge  :  4  The  term  of  service  is  now  short ;  you 
can  soon  get  it  over  and  go  home  again.  Then  they  will 
not  drag  you  from  court  to  court,  and  from  prison  to 
prison.1 

44  Glagblief :  4  Mr.  Judge,  we  do  not  value  our  bodies. 
The  only  thing  of  importance  to  us  is  that  our  consciences 
should  be  clear.  We  cannot  act  contrary  to  the  will  of 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


31 


God.  It  is  no  light  matter  to  be  a  soldier,  and  to  kill  a 
man  directly  you  are  told.  God  has  once  for  all  im¬ 
pressed  on  the  heart  of  each  man,  46  Thou  shalt  not 
kill.”  A  Christian  will  not  only  not  learn  how  to 
kill,  but  will  never  allow  one  of  God's  creatures  to  be 
beaten.’ 

“Then  said  the  Judge,  ‘But,  nevertheless,  we  cannot 
do  without  soldiers  and  war,  because  both  you  and  others 
have  a  little  property,  and  some  people  are  quite  rich  ; 
and  if  we  had  no  armies  and  no  soldiers,  then  evil  men 
would  come,  and  thieves,  and  would  plunder  us,  and  with 
no  army  we  could  not  defend  ourselves.1 

“Then  Glagblief  replied,  ‘You  know,  Mr.  Judge, 
that  it  is  written  in  the  Gospels,  “Lay  not  up  for  your¬ 
selves  treasure  upon  earth.”  We  have  obeyed  this  in¬ 
junction,  and  will  hold  to  it,  and  therefore  shall  have  no 
need  to  defend  anything.  Why,  ask  yourself,  Mr.  Judge, 
how  we  can  keep  our  money  when  our  brothers  need  it  ? 
We  are  commanded  to  help  our  neighbours,  so  that  we 
cannot  find  rest  in  our  souls  when  we  see  them  in  want. 
Christ,  when  he  was  on  earth,  taught  that  we  should 
feed  the  hungry,  give  shoes  to  those  who  have  none,  and 
share  with  those  who  are  needy.’ 

“Then  the  Judge  began  to  inquire  into  our  circum¬ 
stances,  and  asked  how  we  were  getting  on,  and  how  the 
country  suited  us,  all  about  the  distraint,  and  the  Cossacks 
striking  the  women  and  old  men,  and  their  outraging  the 
young  women,  and  expressed  great  astonishment  that 
soldiers,  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  us,  could  turn 
themselves  into  brigands  and  murderers. 

“  Then  said  Glagblief,  ‘  We  see  from  this,  Mr.  Judge, 
that  an  army  does  not  in  the  least  exist  for  the  protection 
of  our  interests,  but  in  order  that  our  savings  may  be 


32 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


spent  on  armaments,  and  that  it  is  of  no  use  in  the  world 
but  to  cause  misery,  outrage,  and  murder.’ 

64  Then  the  Judge,  who  had  listened  to  it  all  attentively, 
was  greatly  moved  and  distressed  by  all  the  cruelties 
which  had  been  practised  on  the  Doukhobors.  He  con¬ 
demned  us,  according  to  some  section  or  other  of  the 
Code,  to  a  fine  of  three  roubles,  and  himself  advised  us 
not  to  pay  it. 

44  He  talked  a  great  deal  more  to  us,  and  questioned 
us,  and  said,  as  he  dismissed  us,  4  Hold  fast  to  that  com¬ 
mandment  of  the  Lord’s.’ 

44  We  went  to  the  inn  to  dine  and  see  our  friends, 
and  before  we  had  had  any  dinner,  the  Judge  came  to 
see  us,  and  brought  us  two  roubles,  in  case  we  had  nothing 
to  eat.  We  endeavoured  to  decline  the  money,  saying, 
4  We  do  not  want  it.  Thank  God,  to-day  we  shall  have 
enough.’  But  he  begged  us  to  accept  it  as  the  offering 
of  a  pure  heart,  and  made  in  sincerity,  and  then  we  took 
it  as  from  a  brother,  and  after  thanking  him,  and  bidding 
him  farewell,  went  away.  He  showed  us  where  he  lived, 
expressed  a  wish  to  know  more  of  us,  and  begged  us  to 
come  and  talk  with  him.” 

That  men  who  refuse  military  service  should  be 
imprisoned,  beaten,  and  sometimes  killed,  is  what  occurs 
in  other  countries  where  Conscription  is  enforced.  If, 
as  is  now  often  suggested,  the  English  Government 
introduces  that  system,  it,  too,  will  have  to  decide  whether 
those  who  refuse  to  bow  the  knee  to  Mars  among  ourselves 
shall  be  shot  or  merely  sent  to  penal  servitude. 

What  was  peculiar  about  the  persecution  of  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  was  the  fact  that,  besides  the  punishment  of  those 
who  actually  refused  to  bear  arms,  one  whole  settlement — 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


33 


of  some  four  thousand  people,  men,  women,  and  children — 
was  broken  up  and  dispersed,  and  the  people  reduced  to 
such  straits  that  about  one  thousand  of  them  died  off  in 
a  period  of  less  than  three  years,  before  permission  was 
given  them  to  leave  Russia. 

As  often  happens,  the  final  collision  did  not  occur 
because  the  one  side  were  all  good  and  the  other  all  bad. 
In  two  of  the  districts  where  Doukhobors  were  settled,  the 
Russian  authorities  perpetrated  no  barbarity  as  bad  as 
those  about  to  be  described  ;  but  in  theTiflis  Government, 
where  the  enmity  between  the  “  Large  Party  ”  and  “  Small 
Party,”  though  it  stopped  short  of  manifesting  itself  by 
physical  violence,  was  extremely  bitter,  the  authorities 
were  perplexed  by  the  mutual  recriminations  of  the  Dou- 
khobors,  and  being  misled  by  false  reports,  suspected  the 
“  Large  Party  ”  of  a  design  to  seize  the  communal  property 
by  force. 

A  night  (the  eve  of  the  Name-day  of  their  Leader, 
Peter  Verigin)  at  the  end  of  June  (old  style)  1895, 
was  appointed  by  the  Doukhobors  of  the  “  Large  Party,” 
on  which  to  burn  their  arms  in  evidence  of  their  firm 
resolve  not  to  use  physical  force  against  any  of  their 
fellow-men.  Their  preparations  appeared  suspicious  to 
the  authorities,  and  the  Governor  sent  a  summons  to  the 
Doukhobdr  elders  to  appear  before  him. 

A  reply  was  returned,  to  the  effect  that  they  were 
engaged  in  praying,  and  that  he  should  rather  come  to 
them,  seeing  that  they  were  many  and  he  but  one. 

This  disrespectful  reply  confirmed  the  Governor  in 
his  belief  that  some  conspiracy  was  on  foot.  Cossacks 
were  sent,  who  flogged  the  people  cruelly  with  their 
heavy  whips  at  the  very  spot  where  the  fire  that  had 
destroyed  their  arms  was  burning  out.  The  Cossacks  were 

D 


34 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


afterwards  quartered  on  the  Doukhobdr  villages  as  on  a 
conquered  people.  There  the  troops  misbehaved  them¬ 
selves  in  ways  customary  to  soldiers  under  such  conditions. 
Finally,  the  whole  of  this  Doukhobdr  settlement  was 
broken  up.  Successive  lots  of  the  inhabitants  had  to  leave 
their  houses  and  well-cultivated  land  at  a  few  days’  notice, 
and  were  then  dispersed  among  the  Georgian  villages. 
From  one  to  five  Doukhobdr  families  were  sent  to  each 
village  in  the  district. 

O 

Left  thus  with  no  houses  or  land,  or  means  of  regular 
livelihood,  among  a  population  who,  for  the  most  part, 
were  not  in  the  habit  of  hiring  labourers,  the  position  of 
these  “  dispersed  ”  Doukhobors  was  terrible.  Sickness, 
caused  by  want^and  by  the  sudden  change  of  climate  from 
highlands  to  malarial  valleys,  added  to  their  troubles  ;  and 
the  police  regulations  forbidding  them  to  leave  the  villages 
even  to  look  for  work,  and  imposing  all  sorts  of  petty 
exactions  and  inconveniences  upon  them, — all  combined 
to  create  conditions  in  which  a  mortality  of  about  ten  per 
cent,  per  annum  is  easily  accounted  for.  They  would, 
indeed,  have  perished  much  more  rapidly  had  not  the 
Kars  and  Elizavetpol  Doukhobors  persevered  in  rendering 
generous  assistance,  despite  the  fact  that  communication 
with  the  “  dispersed  ”  Doukhobors  was  prohibited  by  the 
police.  The  policy  of  the  officials  was  to  cut  them  off* 
from  communication  with  the  outside  world  as  completely 
as  possible,  and  to  oblige  them  to  abandon  their  principles, 
by  the  practical  threat  of  slowly  exterminating  them  should 
they  refuse  to  submit. 

This  policy  was  never  explicitly  stated,  nor  were  all  the 
officials  of  one  mind  on  the  matter,  but  it  was  clearly 
the  general  direction  followed  in  the  persecution,  and  it  is 
the  only  statement  of  policy  which  accords  with,  and  serves 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


35 


to  explain,  what  actually  occurred  in  the  Caucasus  from 
1895  to  1898. 

Meanwhile,  Leo  Tolstoy  and  his  friends  were  concern¬ 
ing  themselves  in  the  matter.  He  wrote  articles  on  the 
subject,  and,  through  the  medium  of  the  English  press, 
the  facts  of  the  persecution  began  to  be  partially  known. 
Already,  on  23rd  October  1895,  The  Times  published  an 
account  of  the  Doukhobbrs,  vouched  for  by  a  letter  from 
Tolstoy. 

Publicity  was  obtained,  and  publicity  is  what  Govern¬ 
ments  engaged  in  persecuting  a  sect,  or  exterminating  a 
people,  do  not  like. 

Vladimir  Tchertkoff,  with  two  friends,  went  to  Peters¬ 
burg  and  tried  to  present  a  petition  to  the  Tsar,  whom 
they  were,  however,  not  allowed  to  see.  After  having 
their  books  and  papers  seized,  they  were  banished  from 
Russia. 

While  news  of  the  persecution  was  slowly  becoming 
public,  an  inquiry  was  instituted  from  Petersburg,  and 
a  General  was  appointed  to  investigate  the  whole  matter : 
to  hear  the  Doukhobbrs’  statement  of  their  own  case, 
to  explain  to  them  their  errors,  and  to  offer  them 
restoration  of  land  and  property  if  they  would  take 
the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  submit  to  Conscription.  A 
number  of  Doukhobbr  elders  were  summoned  to  appear 
before  him.  He  heard  what  they  had  to  say,  discussed  the 
matter,  did  all  he  could  to  persuade  them  to  yield  by 
holding  out  strong  inducements,  and  ultimately  went  as 
far  as  most  of  our  own  clergy  or  officials  would  be  prepared 
to  go :  he  said  that  in  theory  their  views  were  excellent, 
that  he,  too,  would  like  wars  to  cease,  and  all  men  to  live 
together  in  harmony,  and  that  it  may  some  day  come  to 
pass — but  that  the  mistake  made  by  the  Doukhobbrs  was 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


that  they  wished  to  do  right  before  other  people  were 
ready  for  it.  44  The  time,”  said  he,  44  has  not  yet  come.” 

“  The  time,  General,”  replied  these  illiterate  peasants, 
“may  not  yet  have  come  for  you — but  it  has  come 
for  us !  ” 

That  answer  expresses  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
coming  reformation.  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  to-day 
would  have  us  all  believe  that  our  hopes,  beliefs,  aspira¬ 
tions,  and  conduct  should  be  shaped  according  to  the 
decisions  of  certain  external  authorities — church  dignitaries, 
divinely  appointed  rulers,  or  representatives  of  infallible 
majorities.  Some  kind  of  automatic  self-acting  evolution 
is  to  decide  when  any  improvement  of  the  existing  order 
of  things  may  be  permissible.  Our  rulers  will  legislate 
accordingly,  and  it  will  be  our  duty  to  think,  feel,  and  act 
in  submission  to  their  decrees ;  but,  as  yet,  “  the  time  has 
not  come,”  and  we  must  all  go  on  acting  wrongly  till  “  the 
evolutionary  process  ”  does  the  work  of  Reform  for  us. 

The  other  view  is,  that  the  ultimate  authority  in 
matters  of  belief,  feeling,  and  action,  is  the  inward  voice — 
that  divine  guidance  given  us  through  the  medium  of 
reason  and  conscience. 

The  more  humbly  and  faithfully  we  hearken  to  that, 
the  more  rapid  will  be  our  progress — and  that  of  the 
society  to  which  we  belong — towards  perfection.  And 
when  any  man  sees  the  path  clear  before  him  44  the  time 
has  come,”  though  the  authorities  of  Church  and  State 
should  oppose  the  advance  as  strenuously  as  they  opposed 
the  teaching  of  the  early  Christians  and  of  the  first  Pro¬ 
testants,  or  the  struggle  for  religious  freedom  in  England 
and  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  America. 

The  inspiration  that  breathed  on  men  of  old  has  not 
ceased  to  act,  nor  has  it  ever  been  confined  to  any  race,  or 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


37 


age,  or  class.  The  Hebrew  prophet  Isaiah,  the  Catholic 
Saint  Francis,  the  Indian  Prince  Buddha,  the  American 
tailor  John  Woolman,  the  Russian  Count  Tolstoy,  and 
the  Doukhobor  peasant  elder  who  said  “  the  time  has 
come  for  us” — were  all,  in  their  degree,  led  by  the  holy 
spirit  and,  from  time  to  time,  spoke  the  word  of  God. 

At  last,  early  in  1898,  permission  to  leave  Russia  was 
given  to  the  Doukhobdrs  on  condition  (1)  that  they  should, 
go  at  their  own  expense ;  (2)  that  those  who  had  been 
called  on  for  military  service,  and  those  (including  Peter 
Verigin)  who  were  in  Siberia,  should  remain  to  work  out 
their  sentences  ;  and  (3)  that  if  any  of  them  ever  returned, 
they  should  be  banished  to  distant  parts  of  Siberia. 

As  the  Doukhobdrs  were  an  illiterate  peasant  sect, 
ignorant  of  foreign  languages  and  of  geography,  of  whom 
many  had  been  reduced  to  the  verge  of  starvation,  and  all 
had  been  impoverished  by  exactions  and  by  the  drain  of 
supporting  the  exiled  and  dispersed,  it  seemed  at  first 
almost  impossible  for  them  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
permission,  more  especially  as  communication  between 
them  and  the  outside  world  was  continually  interrupted, 
and  all  educated  people  who  showed  a  disposition  to  assist 
them  actively,  had  been  banished  from  the  Caucasus. 

There  was  no  Moses  to  lead  them  to  a  promised  land, 
and,  though  volunteer  workers  sprang  up  in  different 
places,  they  had  no  central  organization,  no  common 
language,  no  business  manager,  and  no  plan  of  action. 
Each  helper  gave  his  services  voluntarily,  and  paid  his 
own  expenses  if  he  could, — if  not,  the  money  was  scraped 
together  as  best  might  be.  Co-operation  established 
itself  somehow,  not  without  blunders,  mistakes,  friction, 
and  even  quarrels.  People  supplied  information,  made 


38 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


the  matter  public,  offered  suggestions,  subscribed  funds, 
helped  and  encouraged  one  another,  and  did  what  they 
saw  their  way  to  do,  until  7,363  Doukhobors  were  estab¬ 
lished  in  Canada. 

Prince  D.  A.  Hilkoff,  a  nephew  of  the  Russian  Minister 
of  Ways  of  Communication  ( i.e .  railways,  roads,  canals, 
etc.),  is  a  man  whose  Memoirs  seem  to  me  to  surpass 
in  interest  even  those  of  P.  Kropotkin,  another  Russian 
whose  opinions  clash  with  the  title  to  which  he  was  born. 
They  have,  in  part,  been  published  both  in  Russian  and 
in  English,  but  on  our  long  journeys  together  I  learnt 
many  incidents  of  his  strange  history  more  exactly ; 
how,  being  an  officer  in  the  army,  he  defied  his 
superiors  and  refused  to  make  up  fictitious  accounts  of 
the  provender,  etc.,  supplied  to  the  regiment ;  how  he 
carried  his  point  and  waged  war  on  a  dishonest  contractor 
of  high  rank ;  how  he  struck  up  a  friendship  with 
Sam&t,  who  was  a  Tartar  brigand,  a  murderer,  an  escaped 
Siberian  exile,  a  Russian  officer  of  distinction,  an  in¬ 
fluential  official,  and  “one  of  the  best  men  I  ever  knew;” 
how  he  became  popular  with  his  men ;  how,  after  killing 
a  Turk  in  battle  and  capturing  his  horse,  he  was  un- 
happy  (not, — as  he  at  first  thought — because  he  had 
let  a  better  horse  escape  him,  but — as  he  realized  while 
lying  awake  at  night — because  he  had  slain  a  man) 
and  resolved  to  leave  the  army,  and,  being  unable  to  do 
so  at  once,  continued  to  risk  his  own  life,  thoroughly 
determined  not  again  to  shed  blood ;  how  he  first  made 
acquaintance  with  the  Doukhobors  and  learned  that  icons 
should  not  be  reverenced  ;  how  he  left  the  army  and 
settled  on  his  estates ;  how  he  sympathized  with  the 
peasants — and  handed  his  land  over  to  them  ;  how 
successful  he  was  in  practical  agriculture ;  how  he  came 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


39 


to  loggerheads  with  the  district  priests,  was  banished  to 
the  Caucasus,  and  lived  among  the  Doukhobors ;  how 
grasping  and  selfish  some  of  them  had  at  that  time  become, 
and  how  difficult  it  was  to  get  at  their  secret  religious 
beliefs;  how  (two  of  his  children  having  been  taken 
from  him  to  be  brought  up  in  Orthodoxy)  he  was  again 
banished  to  a  small  town  in  the  Baltic  Provinces;  how 
he  was  allowed  to  leave  Russia,  but  forbidden  to  return, 
etc.,  etc.  All  this  makes  up  the  record  of  a  career  the 
interest  of  which  is  not  lessened  by  the  fact  that  the  hero 
shares  in  the  faults  and  the  mistakes  common  to  mankind. 

On  September  1st,  1898,  D.  A.  Hilkoff,  the  present 
writer,  and  two  Doukhobor  families  who  had  come  over 
as  delegates — twelve  of  us  in  all — sailed  from  Liverpool 
on  our  way  to  Canada  to  inquire  into  the  feasibility  of 
a  settlement  of  Doukhobors  in  that  country.  A  very 
successful  settlement  of  Mennonites  who  refused  military 
service,  had  been  established  some  twenty  years  before, 
also  from  Russia;  but  the  southern  parts  of  Canada, 
where  they  settled,  are  now  too  fully  peopled  to  allow 
of  further  wholesale  migrations  being  made  to  the  same 
districts. 

On  reaching  Canada  we  found  the  task  before  us 
easier  than  we  had  expected.  The  Canadian  Government 
is  anxious  to  attract  immigrants.  Its  representatives 
with  whom  we  had  to  do,  took  much  trouble  to  meet  the 
unusual  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  gave  every  possible 
assistance. 

Their  inspection  of  our  “  sample 11  Doukhobors  resulted 
in  a  verdict  which  was  expressed  by  some  one  saying :  “  If 
the  bulk  of  your  goods  are  up  to  sample — send  them 
along/1 


40 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


No  sooner  was  it  evident  that  Canada  offered  a  suitable 
refuge  for  the  Doukhobors  than  the  migration  commenced ; 
and  before  the  winter  (1899-1900)  came  on,  over  7,000 
Doukhobors  were  housed  in  their  new  settlements,  and  by 
the  next  winter  they  were  quite  as  well  provided  for  as 
the  average  agricultural  settler  is  during  his  first  years  in 
a  new  country. 

One  characteristic  story  of  an  incident  which  occurred 
soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  Doukhobdrs  in  America 
deserves  to  be  recorded.  A  Canadian  boy,  playing  with 
some  Doukhobor  children,  was  accidentally  hurt,  and  went 
home  crying  to  his  father.  The  latter,  enraged  that  the 
Russians  should  have  hurt  his  son,  rushed  out ;  but  the 
Doukhobor  children  had  all  run  away,  except  one,  who 
had  not  been  playing,  but  was  placidly  sitting  near  by. 
The  man  kicked  this  boy  so  violently  that  the  lad  died 
from  the  injuries  he  received.  The  Doukhobors  thereupon 
signed  a  memorial  expressing  their  sorrow  at  the  boy's 
death,  but  asking  that  the  man  who  killed  him  should 
not  be  punished. 

Such  an  attitude  towards  a  crime  committed  in  a  fit 
of  stupid  passion,  surely  tends  to  the  diminution  of  crime 
more  than  any  imprisonment  or  execution  would  do. 
Among  the  Doukhobdrs  themselves,  as  among  all  sects 
who  regard  violence  as  being  wrong,  crimes  of  violence 
are  exceedingly  rare. 

There  is  every  reason  to  expect  the  Doukhobor  settle¬ 
ment  in  Canada  to  be  successful.  The  people  are 
anxious  to  learn  English,  and  help  in  that  important 
matter  is  being  rendered  them. 

Without  wishing  them  to  become  subject  to  the 
medical  superstitions  current  in  our  own  country,  we  may 
hope  that  they  will,  in  time,  be  induced  to  ventilate  their 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


41 


houses,  and  abstain  from  the  ridiculous  incantations  over  , 
the  sick  which  many  of  them  now  practise. 

With  reference  to  their  children,  I  think  any  one  who 
has  seen  how  obedient,  considerate,  and  quick  to  be  of  use 
the  Doukhobdr  children  usually  are,  will  be  inclined  to 
admit  that  most  of  us  have  much  to  learn  from  these 
people  on  the  subject  of  education.  Even  regarding  in¬ 
struction  (as  apart  from  education  proper),  their  know¬ 
ledge  of  agriculture  and  of  useful  handicrafts,  coupled 
with  a  serious  attention  to  religion  as  a  guide  to  daily 
life,  are  more  likely  to  help  them  to  live  useful  and  happy 
lives  than  any  knowledge  of  vulgar  fractions  or  of  the 
eccentricities  of  English  orthography  could  do. 

\ 

I  have  told  the  story  of  the  Doukhobors  with  no  wish 
to  hide  their  faults  or  exaggerate  their  virtues,  for  I  am 
convinced  that  to  identify  men  with  principles  is  to  do  an 
injustice  to  both.  When  a  schoolboy  reduces  apples  and 
pears  to  shillings  and  pence  he  shows  that  he  does  not 
understand  his  sum ;  and  when  we  confound  principles 
with  people,  it  shows  that  we  understand  neither  religion 
nor  our  fellow-men. 

As  for  the  Doukhobors  themselves,  who  can  fail  to 
feel  sympathy  and  admiration  for  a  folk  who  have  suffered 
so  much  for  conscience’  sake  ?  But  who  can  wisely  and 
reasonably  attempt  to  sum  up  and  give  a  collective  cha¬ 
racter  to  a  sect  of  several  thousand  living,  thinking,  feel¬ 
ing  human  beings,  whose  development  and  evolution  is 
going  on  from  day  to  day,  and  who  now  find  themselves 
in  new  and  unaccustomed  surroundings  P 

The  past  history  of  the  sect,  and  of  all  sects,  warns  us 
not  to  expect  them  either  to  remain  unchanged,  or  con¬ 
stantly  to  move  steadily  forward.  To  the  enthusiasm 


42 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


and  love  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  what  venom  and 
heresy-hunting  succeeded !  How  the  mighty  strength  of 
simple  truth,  exposing  the  claims  of  Rome  to  dominate 
men's  minds  and  consciences,  gave  place  to  unhealthy 
suspicion,  and  to  the  44  no-popery  ”  animus  which  has 
since  poisoned  the  minds  of  many  Protestants,  generation 
after  generation  !  Or,  to  take  a  case  yet  more  closely  in 
point :  how  strange  it  seems  that  the  Quakers, — full  of 
zeal,  earnest,  conscientious,  and  willing  to  suffer  to  the 
death  if  need  be,  rather  than  yield  that  obedience  to 
man  which  is  due  only  to  God  speaking  in  man’s  heart 
and  mind — should  have  spent  ten  years  at  the  time  of  their 
early,  and  greatest,  enthusiasm,  in  a  most  bitter  dispute 
among  themselves  as  to  whether  they  should,  or  should 
not,  wear  hats  in  their  religious  meetings  !  * 

For  any  one  to  attempt  to  foretell  at  what  point 
temptation  will  assail  the  Doukhobors  would  be  rash. 
The  unexpected  is  what  usually  happens  in  such  cases. 
I  have,  however,  already  alluded  to  one  danger.  Peter 
Verigin  appears  to  be  an  able  man,  holding  views 
similar  to  those  of  Tolstoy.  Yet  if  it  be  true  that 
many  of  the  Doukhobors  reverence  him  with  a  super¬ 
stitious  regard  rivalling  that  of  Catholics  for  the  Pope, 
or  Mormons  for  a  Brigham  Young,  the  elements  of  future 
trouble  exist  in  such  dependence.  Another  danger  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  Doukhobors  have  been  so  much  perse¬ 
cuted  that  a  rooted  distrust  of  Governments  dwells  in 
their  minds.  They  admit  that  they  have  received  benefits 
from  the  Canadian  Government,  but  they  suspect  that 
this  was  only  because  the  Government  sees  its  way  to 
make  something  out  of  them.  Every  proposal  or  demand 
made  by  the  Government  is  first  of  all  considered  by  them 


*  See  F.  S.  Turner’s  admirable  work,  The  Quakers. 


A  RUSSIAN  EXODUS 


43 


as  being  possibly  the  thin  end  of  a  Conscription-wedge. 
This  attitude  is  the  less  easy  to  overcome,  because 
their  fundamental  religious  belief  that  men  should  not 
harm  each  other,  clashes  with  the  system  of  executions, 
imprisonments,  militarism  and  wars,  upon  which  all 
Governments,  as  we  know  them  to-day,  rest. 

Moreover,  it  happens,  unfortunately  but  not  un¬ 
naturally,  that  among  the  educated  people  who  have 
helped  the  Doukhobors  (and  one  or  two  of  whom  have 
lived  with  them  in  Canada)  are  some  who  are  philosophic- 
anarchists,  not  merely  in  the  sense  that  they  consider  that 
there  is  no  moral  right  inherent  in  majorities  (any  more 
than  in  hereditary  rulers)  entitling  Governments  to  do 
violence,  but  in  the  sense  that  they  nourish  an  antipathy 
to  all  Governments  somewhat  similar  to  that  felt  by  some 
rabid  Protestants  towards  all  Catholic  communities. 

Such  people  feel  the  truth  of  what  Thoreau  wrote  in 

1849  : — 

“  Government  is  at  best  but  an  expedient;  but  most 
governments  are  usually,  and  all  governments  are  some¬ 
times,  inexpedient.” 

But  suffering  from  that  sectarian  spirit  which  confines 
man’s  vision  to  one  side  of  a  question,  these  reformers 
seem  only  able  to  deal  with  the  matter  in  the  abstract,  as 
it  concerns  their  inner  consciousness.  Of  what  advance 
they  can  help  others  to  make,  practically,  wisely,  and 
rightly,  they  seem  to  have  no  notion.  Fixing  their  eyes 
on  the  distant  mountain  peak,  and  forgetting  to  consider 
where  they  start  from,  or  what  strength  they  possess,  they 
often  tumble  straightway  into  the  next  ditch.  They 
lose  all  sympathy  with  Thoreau  when  he  goes  on  to 
say  :  “  But  to  speak  practically  and  as  a  citizen,  unlike 
those  who  call  themselves  no-government  men,  I  ask 


44 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


for,  not  at  once  no  government,  but  at  once  a  better 
government.” 

But  let  us  try  to  be  j  ust  even  to  the  rabid  Protestant 
or  the  rabid,  though  nominally  philosophic,  Anarchist. 
Great  wrongs  are  not  perpetrated  without  producing  great 
reactions.  Many  men,  not  otherwise  stupid,  can  see  but 
one  thing  at  a  time ;  when  they  see  that  a  thing  is  wrong 
they  cannot  stop  to  discriminate  between  people  and 
principles,  or  to  understand  that  it  is  by  enlightening 
Papists  and  politicians,  rather  than  by  denouncing  them, 
that  progress  can  be  made ;  and  that,  to  enlighten  people, 
much  sympathy  and  kindly  consideration  of  the  reason  of 
their  errors  is  required. 

I  have  allowed  myself  this  final  digression  because  I 
believe  the  tendency  to  ticket  men,  and  bodies  of  men,  by 
this  or  that  collective  name,  and  afterwards  to  regard  the 
men  as  we  believe  the  principles  denoted  by  the  said 
ticket  deserve  to  be  regarded,  is  a  great  hindrance  to  that 
progress  which  will  be  possible  when  people  learn  to  think 
freely  on  all  subjects,  and  to  feel  kindly  towards  all 


men. 


CHAPTER  II 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 

This  chapter  is  intended  to  give  an  account  of  as  much 
of  the  Doukhobor  movement  as  passed  under  my  own 
eyes. 

Until  the  summer  of  1898  I  had  never  seen  a  Dou- 
khobdr,  though  I  had  lived  many  years  in  Russia  and 
heard  much  about  them.  I  was  then  living  at  Pur¬ 
leigh,  in  Essex.  Vladimir  TchertkofF,  who,  besides  com¬ 
piling  a  book  about  them  had  issued  appeals  on  their 
behalf,  had  also  come  to  live  in  the  neighbourhood.  To 
Purleigh  came  Prince  D.  A.  Hilkdff,  whose  early  life 
is  told  in  Stadling  and  Reason’s  In  the  Land  of  Tolstoy. 
After  leaving  the  army,  foregoing  for  conscience’  sake 
what  promised  to  be  a  brilliant  career,  and  learning 
to  earn  his  own  living  by  manual  labour,  he  had  been 
exiled  to  the  Caucasus,  and  had  there  made  his  home 
among  some  Doukhobdrs ;  so  that  he  knew  as  much  of 
them,  and  of  their  habits  and  beliefs,  as  any  one  not  of 
their  sect. 

Two  Doukhobor  families  had  also  reached  Purleigh,  as 
pioneers  seeking  a  country  to  migrate  to.  They  were 
Ivan  Ivin  with  his  wife  and  six  children  (remarkably 
serious,  polite,  and  well-behaved  children),  and  Peter 
Mahdrtof  with  his  wife. 


45 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


46 

An  influential  committee  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in 
London  were  interesting  themselves  on  behalf  of  the 
Doukhobdrs;  but  the  project  they  specially  had  in  view 
at  this  time  was  one  for  transporting  Doukhobdrs  to  the 
island  of  Cyprus.  Hilkdff,  Ivin,  and  Mahdrtof  visited 
Cyprus  in  July,  and  reported  that  it  was  a  place  alto¬ 
gether  unsuitable  for  a  Doukhobor  settlement.  They 
were  too  late  to  prevent  the  temporary  migration  thither 
of  1,126  Doukhobdrs,  but  they  made  it  plain  that  some 
other  country  would  have  to  be  found  for  a  more  perma¬ 
nent  settlement. 

Permission  to  migrate  from  the  Caucasus  had  been 
given  to  the  Doukhobdrs  by  the  Russian  Government  in 
March,  and  they  were  extremely  anxious  to  move  at 
once,  both  because  they  were  harassed  by  the  Russian 
authorities,  and  because  they  feared  that  the  permission 
to  migrate  might  be  rescinded.  But  the  month  of  August 
came  without  anything  satisfactory  having  been  arranged. 

One  circumstance  added  greatly  to  the  difficulty  of 
the  situation.  Vladimir  Tchertkoff,  as  Tolstoy’s  nominee 
in  England,  was  the  most  influential  man  in  the  Tols¬ 
toyan  section  of  the  movement,  and  the  one  who,  apart 
from  the  Friends  and  their  Committee,  controlled  most  of 
the  money  subscribed  to  assist  it.  Prince  D.  A.  Hilkdff 
was  the  man  who,  by  knowledge  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  by 
organizing  capacity,  and  by  his  willingness  to  take  a 
personally  active  part,  was  best  qualified  to  direct  the 
migration.  Unfortunately  these  two  proved  quite  un¬ 
able  to  work  together.  Their  relations,  in  fact,  became 
so  strained  that  all  direct  intercourse  between  them  had 
to  cease.  A  similar  misfortune  befell  several  other  people 
who  tried  to  co-operate  with  Vladimir  Tchertkoff,  or  to 
work  under  his  command. 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


47 


Hilkdff  had  given  away  his  own  estates  to  his  peasants, 
and  by  his  banishment  from  Russia  was,  for  the  time 
being,  unable  to  obtain  other  property  that  had  recently 
been  left  him.  He  was,  therefore,  at  this  time,  a  poor 
man ;  and  to  give  his  time  and  services  gratuitously,  and 
to  go  to  America  as  he  did,  at  his  own  expense,  was  a 
great  sacrifice. 

Arnold  Eiloart  (an  eccentric  member  of  a  queer 
Colony  that  had  a  brief  existence  at  Purleigh,  in  Essex,) 
provided  funds  to  the  extent  of  some  dP1200  to  assist 
the  Doukhobor  movement  ;  and  out  of  this  money  the 
expenses  of  the  above-mentioned  visit  to  Cyprus  were 
paid,  as  well  as  the  expenses  to  America  of  the  two  Dou- 
khobor  delegates  with  their  wives  and  children.  Both 
Hilkdff  and  I  accompanied  them  to  America  at  their 
pressing  request  and  at  our  own  expense,  to  advise  and 
interpret  for  them.  Prince  Hilkdff  shared  with  the 
Doukhobdrs  the  hardships  of  a  steerage  passage,  while  I 
(a  bad  sailor)  went  more  luxuriously  as  a  first-class 
passenger, — feeling  much  ashamed  of  myself  for  such  un- 
Tolstoyan  self-indulgence. 

We  sailed  from  Liverpool  on  1st  September  1898,  on 
the  s.s.  Vancouver ,  and  in  due  course  reached  Quebec  and 
Montreal. 

Having  heard  but  one  side  of  the  quarrel,  I  was,  at 
first,  ill-disposed  towards  Hilkdff*;  but,  as  I  came  to  know 
him  better,  I  learned  to  admire  his  ability  and  to  appre¬ 
ciate  his  frank  and  amiable  character. 

Our  task  was,  first  of  all,  to  find  out  whether  Canada 
was  a  suitable  country  for  the  Doukhobdrs  to  settle  in. 
This  was  soon  decided  in  the  affirmative.  The  next  point 
was  to  see  what  the  Canadian  Government  would  do  to 
help  the  migration.  We  found  they  would  give  :  (1)  For 


48 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


each  male  over  18  years  of  age,  160  acres  of  good  land, 
subject  to  the  payment  of  an  entrance  fee  of  $10  (£2), 
which  payment  could  be  deferred  for  three  years ;  (2) 
assistance  by  Government  interpreters,  and  accommo¬ 
dation  in  Government  Immigration  Halls,  on  first  arrival 
in  Canada;  and  (3)  a  grant  of  £1  for  each  immigrant, 
man,  woman,  or  child,  reaching  Winnipeg  by  June  30, 
J  899. 

This  last  payment  was  an  extension  of  one  the 
Canadian  Government  usually  makes  to  the  agents  of 
steam-ship  companies,  to  encourage  immigration  to 
Canada.  There  being  no  agents  anxious  to  make  money 
out  of  the  Doukhobors — their  place  being,  in  this  case, 
occupied  by  men  anxious  to  aid  the  immigrants — it  was 
arranged  that  this  44  bonus  ”  should  go  to  form  a  fund 
from  which  the  Canadian  Government  would  defray  the 
expenses  of  supporting  the  Doukhobors  on  their  first 
arrival. 

The  above  advantages  were  such  as  the  Canadian 
Government  usually  grants  to  all  comers  (except  that  the 
i?l  44  bonus  ”  is  usually  paid  only  on  male  adults,  and  had 
been  recently  suspended  in  the  case  of  Galicians,  of  whom 
large  numbers  had  come  to  Canada  and  to  whom  much 
opposition  was  just  then  being  shown).* 

It  soon  became  clear  to  Hilkoff  and  to  me  that  in 
making  arrangements  we  could  count  on  but  little  assis- 
tance  from  Ivin  or  Mahortof.  Everything  in  Canada  was 
new  and  strange  to  them ;  they  of  course  spoke  only  Rus¬ 
sian  ;  and  they  were  reluctant  to  take  on  themselves  the 
responsibility  for  any  decision.  Their  usual  reply,  when 
a  prompt  decision  on  any  point  was  urgently  necessary, 

*  For  details  of  the  arrangements  made,  the  reader  is  referred  to 
Appendix  I. 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


49 


was  to  say :  46  We  cannot  decide  ;  we  are  not  empowered. 
Wait  until  all  the  brothers  ”  (e.g.  the  Doukhobors)  44  are 
here,  and  then  the  matter  can  be  discussed/'  They  did 
not  appear  at  all  to  see  the  impossibility  of  bringing  some 
7,000  people  to  Canada  without  any  settled  plans,  and 
then  beginning  a  discussion  as  to  where  they  were  to  go 
and  how  they  should  be  provided  for. 

Ultimately  we  found  out  that  (in  addition  to  the  inability 
to  take  independent  decisions,  natural  to  men  accustomed 
implicitly  to  obey  a  Leader)  Ivin  and  Mahbrtof  were 
suspicious  that  we  might  be  making  money  out  of  the 
Canadian  Government  at  the  expense  of  the  Doukhobors. 
In  the  Caucasus  Hilkdff  had  not  lived  in  the  villages  to 
which  Ivin  and  Mahbrtof  belonged,  and  at  Purleigh  they 
had  been  under  TchertkofUs  influence,  though  not  suffi¬ 
ciently  so  to  prevent  their  inviting  Hilkdff  to  accompany 
them  to  Canada.  So  now,  when  they  met  Polish  Jews  in 
Winnipeg  who  spoke  Russian  and  were  good  enough  to 
invent  a  selfish  motive  for  Hilkoff’s  efforts  on  their  behalf, 
such  suggestions  fell  on  ready  soil.  As  for  myself,  I 
naturally  had  but  a  slight  hold  on  them.  They  knew 
little  of  me  before  we  started  for  America,  and  had  asked 
my  help  mainly  because  I  had  contributed  to  the  relief  of 
the  Doukhobors  and  spoke  the  Russian  language. 

To  communicate  with  the  Doukhobors  in  the  Caucasus 
was  a  matter  of  difficulty,  delay,  and  expense.  There  was 
no  time  for  interchange  of  letters.  Cablegrams  were 

o  o 

expensive,  and  we  were  never  sure  that  the  Russian  autho¬ 
rities  would  allow  letters  and  telegrams  to  reach  them. 
Besides,  the  Doukhobors  were  scattered  in  various  settle¬ 
ments  ;  many  of  them  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  spot 
they  had  been  sent  to ;  their  Leader  was  away  in  exile  in 
Siberia,  and  there  was  no  one  among  them  in  the  Caucasus 


E 


50 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


able  to  take  decisions  without  first  calling  a  meeting  of 
representatives  from  the  different  settlements.  What 
messages  we  did  receive  from  the  Doukhobors  were  urgent 
entreaties  to  make  arrangements  as  quickly  as  possible  to 
enable  them  to  come  to  America.  The  Canadian  Govern¬ 
ment,  on  its  side,  naturally  wanted  some  responsible  person 
to  treat  with ;  and  thus  the  curious  result  was  arrived  at : 
that  Hilkoff  and  I  had,  unwillingly,  to  accept  the  role  and 
responsibility  of  plenipotentiaries  for  people  whom  I,  at 
least,  knew  little  of,  and  whose  delegates  more  or  less 
distrusted  us  both. 

HilkofTs  thorough  knowledge  of  agriculture,  especially 
of  the  kind  of  agriculture  the  Doukhobors,  as  well  as  his 
own  peasants,  were  accustomed  to,  qualified  him  admirably 
for  the  task  of  selecting  the  land. 

The  conditions  of  the  problem  were  these  :  the 
Doukhobors  wished  to  settle  as  a  compact  community, 
with  lands  as  much  as  possible  together.  This  precluded 
the  selection  of  such  small  plots  as  might  have  been 
obtained  south  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  where  the 
cultivation  of  wheat  was  known  to  be  practically  safe  from 
danger  of  being  spoilt  by  frosts  ;  and  it  obliged  us  to  look 
further  north,  and  to  choose  land  in  respect  of  which 
settlers  were  still  somewhat  doubtful.  The  land  itself 
was  excellent,  but  how  far  north  agriculture  (and  espe¬ 
cially  wheat  growing)  could  be  safely  depended  on  was  a 
doubtful  question.  It  appears  to  be  a  fact,  that  as  the 
country  becomes  more  occupied  and  more  ground  is 
broken  up  and  cultivated,  more  of  the  sun's  heat  is  retained, 
and  the  climate  gradually  modifies.  Settlers  also  are 
obtaining  more  confidence,  and  are  finding  out  what  can  be 
safely  done,  so  that  to-day  (1904)  there  is  a  brisk  demand 
for  land  which  in  1898  was  only  beginning  to  be  considered 


CANADA 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


51 


worth  taking  up.  Other  important  considerations  in 
selecting  the  land  were :  to  secure  a  good  water  supply, 
and  timber  to  build  with,  and  not  to  be  too  far  from  a 
railway.  This  last  point  was  immediately  important  to  en¬ 
able  the  Doukhobors  to  reach  their  settlements  as  quickly 
and  cheaply  as  possible ;  as  well  as  to  bring  them  within 
reach  of  opportunities  to  earn  money  by  wage-labour, 
and  to  enable  them,  later  on,  to  market  their  produce 
advantageously. 

The  first  locality  we  inspected  was  in  the  district  near 
Edmonton,  the  station  furthest  north  on  the  railway  from 
Calgary,  in  Alberta.  Isothermal  maps  of  Canada  show  that 
the  temperature  is  as  mild  in  this  part  as  it  is  much  further 
south  in  Eastern  Canada.  The  Immigration  Department 
supplied  us  with  all  needful  information,  with  competent 
guides,  free  passes  on  the  railways,  and  conveyances  to 
drive  us  where  there  was  no  railway.  A  most  promising 
location  not  far  from  Beaver  Lake  was  selected,  where  we 
wished  to  take  up  twelve  44  townships  ”  of  thirty-six  square 
miles  each,  and  where  the  whole  Doukhobdr  community 
might  have  settled  contiguously.  But,  after  our  return 
to  Ottawa,  this  arrangement  was  upset.  A  fierce  con¬ 
troversy  was  at  this  time  being  carried  on  in  Canada  as  to 
the  desirability,  or  otherwise,  of  Galician  immigrants,  who 
were  said  to  be  a  very  rough  and  troublesome  folk.  A  con¬ 
troversy  of  that  kind  in  Canada  at  once  becomes  a  party 
question.  There  is  practically  no  broad  difference  of 
principle  between  the  Canadian  44  Conservative  ”  and 
44  Liberal 11  parties.  It  is  chiefly  a  battle  between  the 
44  ins"’  and  the  44outs,”  in  which  various  railway  and  other 
interests  play  a  part.  Consequently,  the  usual  game  of 
the  party  newspapers  is  for  the  44  outs  ”  to  attack  what¬ 
ever  the  44  ins  ”  do,  or  allow  to  be  done.  The  Liberal 


52 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Government  was  making  efforts  to  find  immigrants  to  take 
up  the  unoccupied  land  of  the  North-West  Territories ; 
so  the  Conservative  Opposition  was  ready  and  eager  to 
note  and  exaggerate  everything  unfavourable  about  such 
immigrants,  and  to  use,  as  a  weapon  wherewith  to  attack 
the  Government,  any  prejudice  that  could  be  aroused 
against  them.  Unfavourable  accounts  of  the  Doukhobors 
have  found  their  way  into  various  English  Encyclopaedias 
and  books  of  reference.*  Such  descriptions  furnished  the 
Opposition  press  with  plenty  of  ammunition  to  use 
against  the  Government,  and  against  the  proposed  immi¬ 
gration. 

As  a  result,  an  opposition  to  the  location  of  the  Dou- 
khobors  in  the  Edmonton  district  sprang  up ;  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  on  the  Government,  and,  when  we  thought 
all  had  been  favourably  settled,  we  learnt  that  we  could 
not  have  the  land  we  had  selected.  The  search  had  to 
be  recommenced  ^  in  other,  less  tempting,  parts  of  the 
country. 

Time  pressed  :  the  messages  from  the  Doukhobdrs 
were  more  and  more  urgent,  and  the  negotiations  with 
the  Government  and  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  were 
as  yet  not  concluded.  So  it  was  arranged  that  Prince 

*  The  Century  Dictionary,  for  instance,  gives — “  Dukhobortsi,  one 
who  denies  the  divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (dukhobdrstvo,  a  sect  of  such 
deniers).  A  fanatical  Russian  sect,  founded  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  by  a  soldier  named  Procope  Loupkin,  who  pretended 
to  make  known  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity,  then  long  lost.  They  have 
no  stated  places  of  worship,  observe  no  holy  days,  reject  the  use  of  images 
and  all  holy  rites  and  ceremonies,  have  no  ordained  clergy,  and  do  not 
acknowledge  the  divinity  of  Christ  or  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  to 
which  they  give,  in  so  far  as  they  accept  them,  a  nr  .tical  interpretation. 
Owing  to  their  murders  and  cruelties,  they  were  removed  to  the  Caucasus 
in  1841  and  subsequent  years ;  they  now  form  a  community  there  of  seven 
villages.” 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


53 


Hilkdff,  with  Ivin  and  Mahortof,  should  go  to  select  the 
land,  while  I  should  take  on  myself  the  negotiations,  and 
do  what  I  could,  by  lecturing  and  by  interviewing  news¬ 
paper  editors,  to  lessen  the  prejudice  that  was  springing 
up  against  the  Doukhobdrs. 

On  the  train  back  from  Edmonton  to  Winnipeg  I 
met  Miss  Flora  Shaw  (now  Lady  Lugard),  who  was  writing 
a  series  of  articles  on  Canada  for  the  Times.  I  much 
enjoyed  a  conversation  I  had  with  her,  but  was  unable 
to  interest  her  journalistically  in  the  Doukhobdrs.  She 
said  that  to  get  the  British  public  to  care  about  them,  one 
would  have  to  find  them  a  handier  name.  To  this  I  could 
only  reply  that  I  had  already  cut  down  the  cumbrous 
plural  Doukhobdrtsi  to  the  shorter  and  equally  correct 
form,  Doukhobdrs.  A  further  abbreviation  to  “Douks11 
subsequently  came  into  colloquial  use,  but  had  not  then 
suggested  itself,  or  the  Doukhobdr  movement  might  per¬ 
haps,  in  1898,  have  obtained  some  of  that  wide  publicity 
for  which  it  had  to  wait  until  the  “  pilgrimages 11  and 
“nudity  parades11  of  1902  and  1903  secured  for  the 
sect  ample  recognition  in  all  well-conducted  English 
newspapers. 

HilkdfTs  part  of  the  work  was  performed  as  well  as 
was  possible  under  the  circumstances.  It  was  not  possible 
to  find  a  location  which  was  both  large  enough  for  the 
whole  Doukhobdr  community  to  settle  on,  and  yet  suitable 
in  all  other  respects.  So  three  different  locations  were 
selected.  These  were  subsequently  called  :  (1)  the  North 
(or  Thunder  Hill)  Colony ;  (2)  the  South  Colony  (with 
an  annex  called  the  Devil's  Lake  Colony) ;  and  (3) 
the  Saskatchewan  Colonies  (divided  into  the  Duck  Lake 
and  the  Saskatoon  Settlements,  and  called  also,  by  the 
Doukhobdrs,  Prince  Albert  Colony).  In  these  settlements 


54 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


the  Doukhobors  now  hold  more  than  six  hundred  square 
miles. 

Of  these,  the  North  Colony  is  situated  just  at  the 
north-east  corner  of  Assiniboia ;  the  South  Colony 
(measuring  from  nearest  point  to  nearest  point)  is  some 
eighteen  miles  to  the  south-west  of  the  North  Colony ; 
while  the  Saskatchewan  Colonies  are  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  to  the  west,  or  north-west,  of  the  others. 

There  were  some  inaccuracies  in  the  Immigration 
Department  plans  showing  what  land  was  free  and  what 
was  already  bespoken  ;  and  this,  added  to  the  fact  that  it 
was  not  known  how  many  Doukhobors  were  coming,  or  how 
they  would  group  themselves,  led  to  some  minor  mistakes 
being  made.  But,  on  the  whole,  the  selection  made  by 
HilkofF  has  been  amply  justified  by  the  results,  for  not 
only  have  the  Doukhobors  been  remarkably  prosperous, 
but  they  have  shown  little  desire  to  change  the  land  he 
selected  for  them  ;  except  during  the  44  Pilgrimage  ”  move¬ 
ment  which  broke  out  in  1902  and  induced  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  them  to  walk  off  to  meet  Christ,  and  find  a  land 
where  they  could  eat  ripe  fruit  from  the  trees  without 
having  to  44  spoil  the  earth  ”  by  cultivating  it.  They 
would  no  doubt  prefer  to  be  more  compactly  settled  in 
a  single  district,  but  the  great  thing  was  to  make  it  as 
easy  as  possible  for  them  to  procure  subsistence ;  and  the 
sentimental  or  political  motives  for  keeping  the  clan 
compact  had  to  be  subordinated. 

During  my  stay  in  Canada  I  met  members  of  the 
Government,  and  of  the  Immigration  staff:  the  Hon. 
Clifford  Sifton,  Minister  of  the  Interior ;  James  A.  Smart, 
Deputy  Minister  of  the  Interior  (with  whom  the  negotia¬ 
tions  were  chiefly  conducted);  W.  F.  McCreary,  Com¬ 
missioner  of  Immigration  at  Winnipeg,  and  several  others. 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


55 


From  first  to  last,  I  was  impressed  by  their  prompt  and 
business-like  common  sense,  their  readiness  to  meet  diffi¬ 
culties,  and  the  absence  of  the  official  hauteur  and 
dilatoriness  so  common  among  Government  officials  in 
Europe. 

An  equal  or  greater  impression  of  efficiency  was  given 
by  the  managers  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  with 
whom,  next  to  the  Government,  it  was  most  important  to 
come  to  an  arrangement, — the  funds  available  for  the 
migration  not  being  nearly  sufficient  to  pay  the  usual 
railway  fares.  After  being  accustomed  to  slow  Russian 
ways,  I  remember  my  surprise  at  the  ease  with  which  I — 
who  was  almost  without  credentials  from  the  Doukhobors 
themselves — was  able  to  secure  attention,  and  to  get  so 
large  an  affair  satisfactorily  arranged. 

When  in  business  in  Moscow  I  had,  as  a  Director  of 
the  Russian  Carpet  Company,  been  a  junior  colleague  of 
G.  Marchetti,  the  acting  head  of  the  famous  carpet 
manufacturers,  John  Crossley  and  Sons,  of  Halifax,  Yorks, 
whose  connections  reach  to  all  the  continents  of  the  world. 
By  his  kindness  I  was  now  furnished  with  letters  of  intro¬ 
duction  to  James  Morgan,  of  Montreal,  as  well  as  to 
representatives  or  connections  of  Crossley 's  in  other  towns. 
In  addition  to  these,  I  had  also  a  letter  from  Vladimir 
Tchertkoff  addressed  to  whom  it  might  concern,  as 
follows : — 

“  Having1,  in  connection  with  the  Doukhobortsi  emigration  plan, 
been  in  correspondence  with  various  persons  in  America  who  have 
expressed  sympathy  with  this  cause,  and  who  desire  to  contribute  to 
its  furtherance,  I  wish  to  inform  them  that  Aylmer  Maude,  a  personal 
friend  of  Leo  Tolstoy’s  and  of  myself,  has  very  kindly  undertaken 
to  go  to  America  with  the  special  object  of  trying  to  pave  the  way 
for  such  an  emigration. 

“  Hie  success  of  his  efforts  will  naturally  be  dependent  upon  the 


56 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


help  lie  receives,  and  I  should  like  those  who  have  been  in  communi¬ 
cation  upon  the  subject  either  with  Leo  Tolstoy  or  myself,  to  know 
that  we  have  placed  the  negotiations  in  America  entirely  in  his 
(A.  Maude’s)  hands,  and  request  all  who  may  co-operate  in  this 
undertaking  to  regard  him  as  possessing  our  full  and  unlimited 
confidence. 

“He  is  accompanied  by  two  delegates  from  the  Doukhohortsi 
themselves  (John  Ivin  and  Peter  Mahortof),  who  are  competent 
representatives  of  their  brethren  in  the  Caucasus. 

“  V.  Tciiertkoff. 

“  Purleigh,  Essex,  England, 

“August  31,  1898.” 

These  letters,  none  of  which  were  from  the  Doukho- 
bors  themselves,  were  all  the  credentials  I  had  ;  but  they 
sufficed. 

On  my  first  arrival  in  Canada,  I  reached  Montreal  late 
on  Saturday,  September  10,  and  made  my  way  next  after¬ 
noon  to  James  Morgan’s  country  house,  where  I  met 
with  a  kindly  and  helpful  reception,  which  was  in  keeping 
with  what  I  repeatedly  experienced  during  my  stay  in 
America.  After  telling  him  and  Mrs.  Morgan  the  story  of 
the  Doukliobdrs,  I  was  taken  to  call  on  his  near  neigh¬ 
bour,  R.  B.  Angus,  a  Director  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,  who,  on  the  Monday,  introduced  me  to  Thomas 
Shaughnessy  (now  Sir  Thomas  Shaughnessy),  then  Vice- 
President  of  the  Company.  These  gentlemen  were 
thoroughly  aware  of  the  advantage  to  the  railway,  that 
would  result  from  the  settlement  of  several  thousand 
industrious  peasants  by  whom,  and  for  the  marketing  of 
whose  produce,  the  C.P.R.  line  would  be  used.  As  a 
result  of  the  negotiations  then  commenced,  it  was  ulti¬ 
mately  arranged  that  the  C.P.R.  should  carry  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  from  the  coast,  i.e.  from  St.  John,  New  Brunswick 
(or  from  Quebec,  should  that  Port  not  be  frozen  up),  to 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


57 


whatever  station  west  of  Winnipeg  might  be  nearest  to 
their  future  settlement  (for  these  arrangements  were  made 
before  the  locations  were  finally  selected),  at  the  rate  of 
six  dollars,  or  twenty-five  shillings,  per  adult.  This  was 
exceedingly  cheap  for  a  journey  of  considerably  over  two 
thousand  *  miles.  The  Colonist  cars  on  the  C.P.R.  are 
clean  and  comfortable,  and  the  trains  run  the  distance 
from  St.  John  to  Winnipeg  at  what,  for  such  a  journey, 
is  a  very  fair  rate  of  speed,  taking  two  days  and  eighteen 
hours,  including  stoppages,  for  the  whole  journey. 

Thomas  Shaughnessy  handed  me  over  to  D.  McNicoll, 
the  Passenger  Traffic  Manager,  who  offered  free  passes 
along  the  line  to  Edmonton  for  our  whole  party,  and 
gave  me  letters  of  introduction  to  various  people. 

Throughout  my  journey,  I  could  not  help  contrasting 
the  steady,  prompt,  efficient  work  done  by  these  officials 
and  men  of  business — resulting  in  benefits  to  many  people 
and  carried  out  with  consideration  and  courtesy, — with 
the  erratic  and  inefficient  exertions  of  “  reformers  ”  of  the 
virulent  type  one  sometimes  meets,  whose  ardour  for 
“  principles  ”  too  often  serves  as  an  excuse  for  much 
harshness  towards  the  people  they  have  to  deal  with. 

A  matter  which  concerned  both  the  Government  and 
the  C.P.R.,  was  that  of  allowing  the  Doukhobdrs  to  take 
up  land  in  compact  settlements  without  having  to  buy 
“  alternate  sections  ”  belonging  to  the  railway  company. 

When  the  C.P.R.  was  built,  there  was  no  prospect  of 
parts  of  the  line,  which  ran  through  sparsely  populated 
districts  in  the  west,  paying  expenses.  Yet  it  was  im¬ 
portant  to  unite  the  country  by  a  railway  right  across, 
from  Atlantic  to  Pacific.  So,  among  other  inducements 
given  to  the  railway  company  by  the  Government  of  the 
day,  in  consideration  of  the  company  undertaking  to 


58 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


complete  the  line,  was  a  grant  of  public  land  to  the  quite 
excessive  amount  of  25,000,000  acres. 

Manitoba  and  the  North-West  provinces  are  now 
mapped  out  into  squares,  measuring  six  miles  each  way. 
Each  of  these  “  townships  11  contains,  therefore,  36  square 
miles.  The  “  township,1’  again,  is  divided  into  “  sections  11 
of  640  acres,  or  one  square  mile  each.  The  “  quarter 
section 11  of  free  land,  obtainable  by  each  adult  male 
settler,  contains  160  acres.  The  land  belonging  to  the 
railway  is  distributed  in  “ alternate  sections”;  that  is  to 
say,  the  sections  of  a  “township”  are  numbered  con¬ 
secutively,  the  even  numbers  belonging  to  the  Govern¬ 
ment,  and  the  odd  ones  to  the  railway,  except  that  two 
sections  in  a  township  generally  belong  to  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  and  two  others  are  kept  for  the  endowment  of 
schools.  What  happens  in  the  usual  course  is  that 
settlers  take  up  the  free  grants  of  Government  land,  and 
when  they  want  more — or  when  a  group  such  as  the 
Doukhobors  want  to  make  their  settlement  compact, — 
they  have  to  buy  the  66  alternate  sections  ”  held  by  the 
railway,  at  prices  which  range  from  about  $3  per  acre 
upwards. 

To  get  the  Doukhobors  settled  as  nearly  as  possible 
en  bloc ,  as  they  wished  to  be,  without  an  expenditure 
quite  beyond  their  means,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
Government  should  give  the  C.P.R.  an  equivalent  else¬ 
where  for  the  odd-numbered  sections  in  the  “  townships  ” 
selected;  and  that  the  C.P.R.  on  their  part  should  con¬ 
sent  to  make  such  an  exchange,  and  thus  let  the  Doukho- 
bors  obtain  solid  “  townships.”  After  some  difficulty, 
this  was  satisfactorily  effected,  except  with  reference  to  a 
small  part  of  the  land  allotted. 

It  is  now  time  to  admit  the  chief  mistake  I  made  in 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


59 


connection  with  this  migration,  and  to  offer  my  sincere 
apologies  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  and  whom  I, 
unwittingly,  misled.  It  related  to  the  character,  and 
conduct  to  be  expected  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  and  I  must 
begin  by  explaining  how  it  was  that  I  was  myself  mis¬ 
informed  on  these  points. 

Since  1895,  I  had  heard  of  the  existence  of  the  Dou¬ 
khobdrs  from  Tolstoy,  and  from  the  circle  of  his  nearest 
adherents.  Among  that  circle,  a  theory  prevailed  that 
the  Doukhobdrs  were  a  body  of  ideally  peaceful  people, 
full  of  charity  even  for  their  enemies,  submissive  to 
exactions  whether  made  by  Government  or  by  brigands, 
and  needing  only  to  be  moved  to  new  surroundings  to 
show  that  they  were,  in  deed  as  well  as  in  name,  members 
of  a  “  Universal  Community  of  Christian  Brotherhood,’'’ 
who  ignored  all  distinctions  of  sect,  nationality,  or  race, 
and  were  wise,  reasonable  men,  considerate  of  others  and 
easy  to  get  on  with.  Though  they  were  submissive  to  all 
exactions,  we  believed  that  they  acknowledged  no  authority 
but  that  of  reason  and  conscience  ;  and  in  practical  matters 
voluntarily  followed  the  advice  of  their  wisest  and  best 
members.  In  fact  the  Doukhobdrs  were,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Tolstoyans,  a  folk  who  had  well-nigh  realized  the 
Christian  ideal ;  and  it  was  incumbent  on  us  not  merely 
to  sympathize  and  help  them  in  the  unjust  persecution 
they  were  then  suffering,  but  also  to  assimilate  our  own 
lives  and  customs  to  theirs,  as  much  as  our  own  inferior 
moral  development  would  allow.  They  were  supposed  to 
have  practically  solved  the  great  problem  which  divides 
anarchists  from  socialists,  and  to  have  shown  how  to 
combine  complete  individual  freedom,  with  equality  of 
opportunity  and  material  condition,  and  also  with  peace 
and  good  order  in  the  life  of  the  community. 


60 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Tolstoy  himself,  it  is  true,  was  more  reasonable  than 
his  most  prominent  lieutenants.  But  he  was  himself 
strongly  moved  by  sympathy  for  this  oppressed  peasant 
sect,  as  well  as  by  dislike  of  conscription,  and  he  hoped  that 
the  collective  protest  the  Doukhobdrs  had  made  against 
militarism  would  have  a  widespread  result.  The  informa¬ 
tion  at  his  disposal  was  exceedingly  one-sided.  The 
Russian  press  had  been  forbidden  any  discussion  of  the 
Doukhobor  question,  and,  as  always  happens  in  such 
cases,  the  impossibility  of  hearing  both  sides  of  the 
matter,  led  each  side  to  exaggerate  its  own  views.  In 
the  eyes  of  Russian  officialdom,  the  Doukhobdrs  were 
hypocritical  and  fanatical  criminals  ;  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Tolstoyans,  they  were  saints  and  martyrs  leading  the 
very  vanguard  of  Christian  humanity.  Any  one  reading 
the  articles  Tolstoy  wrote  at  the  time,  especially  his  part 
of  the  appeal  entitled  Help !  will  see  what  I  refer  to ; 
nor,  after  all  that  has  happened,  can  I  help  feeling  that 
Tolstoy,  who  refused  to  be  silent  about  what  was  going 
on,  who  denounced  conscription  as  a  degrading  and 
barbarous  slavery,  and  who  helped  and  cheered  the  weak 
and  oppressed,  was  (in  spite  of  exaggeration  and  mistakes) 
nearer  the  mark  than  almost  any  one  else  who  took 
prominent  part  in  the  movement,  and  much  nearer  the 
mark  than  those  who  stood  aside  in  cold  indifference. 

Sincerely  accepting  the  Tolstoyan  version  of  the 
matter  (and  ignorant  of  faults  that  have  since  become 
conspicuous),  I  quite  honestly  assured  Canadians  in 
general  and  the  Canadian  Government  in  particular,  that 
the  Doukhobdrs  would  prove,  in  all  respects,  admirable 
immigrants,  would  give  no  trouble,  and  would  readily 
agree  to  the  reasonable  and  useful  laws  and  regulations 
unquestioningly  accepted  by  other  settlers. 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


61 


The  Canadian  authorities  were  quite  explicit  about 
the  conditions  on  which  the  Doukhobors  might  come  to 
Canada.  They  were  to  make  entry  for  their  homesteads 
individually,  in  the  usual  Canadian  fashion.  They  would 
have  to  supply  vital  statistics,  conform  to  the  laws  of 
the  country,  and  pay  their  taxes.  As  an  inducement  to 
them  to  come,  it  was  pointed  out  that  they  would  have 
the  advantages  of  the  Militia  Act,  which  says — 

“  Every  person  bearing  a  certificate  from  the  society  of  Quakers, 
Menuonites,  or  Tunkers,  and  every  inhabitant  of  Canada  of  any 
religious  denomination,  otherwise  subject  to  military  duty,  who 
from  the  doctrines  of  his  religion,  is  averse  to  bearing  arms  and 
refuses  personal  military  service,  shall  be  exempt  from  such  service 
when  balloted  in  time  of  peace  or  war,  upon  such  conditions  and 
under  such  regulations  as  the  Governor  in  Council  from  time  to  time 
prescribes.” 

This  was  supplemented  by  an  Order  in  Council,  ex¬ 
pressly  naming  the  Doukhobors  as  a  sect  which  was  to 
have  the  advantage  of  this  Act.  (See  Appendix  II.) 

Another  concession  made  in  favour  of  the  Dou- 
khobbrs  was,  that  they  were  not  required  to  perform,  on 
each  separate  homestead,  the  work  legally  necessary  before 
a  homestead  can  become  individual  property,  but  were 
allowed  to  do  an  equivalent  quantity  of  work  on  any 
part  of  the  “  township  ”  they  took  up ;  thus  facilitating 
their  communal  arrangements. 

The  demands  and  offers  of  the  Canadian  Government 
were  by  me  communicated  to  the  Doukhobdr  delegates 
then  in  Canada,  and  also  to  other  delegates  who  had 
then  arrived  in  Purleigh.  None  of  them  made  any 
objection,  but,  on  the  contrary,  all  were  anxious  to  hasten 
the  migration  as  much  as  possible.* 

*  In  a  subsequent  chapter  I  make  considerable  use  of  an  interesting, 
and  generally  reliable  scries  of  articles  that  appeared  in  1903  in  Obrcizo- 


62 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


To  return,  however,  to  the  account  I  gave  of  the 
Doukhobors,  and  to  illustrate  the  kind  of  statement  I 
accepted  as  accurate,  I  will  quote  from  an  44  Appeal  v* 
issued  by  Vladimir  TchertkofF,  Paul  Birukoff,  and  John 
Tregdubof,  in  December,  1896 — 

44  The  Doukhobors  found  their  mutual  relations  and 
their  relations  to  other  people  .  .  .  exclusively  on  love ; 
and,  therefore,  they  hold  all  people  equal,  brethren.  .  .  . 
In  all  that  does  not  infringe  what  they  regard  as  the 
Will  of  God,  they  willingly  fulfil  the  desire  of  the 
authorities.” 

And  again,  as  to  their  form  of  Government — 

44  Several  representatives  of  the  majority,  and  among 
them  the  manager  elected  to  administer  the  communal 
property,  were  banished.”  (It  subsequently  turned  out 
that  the  authority  of  Peter  Verigin,  their  Leader,  was  not 

vanie.  They  are  by  “  Y.  Olhovsky,”  a  pseudonym  adopted  by  one  of  the 
Russians,  who  went  out  to  help  the  Doukhobors  settle  in  Canada.  To 
the  following  statement  made  by  him  I  must,  however,  take  exception  : — 
“  The  only  undoubted  omission  made  by  the  person  who  conducted  the 
negotiations  with  the  Canadian  Government,  namely  the  Englishman,  A. 
Maude,  was  that  he  omitted  to  ascertain  the  manner  of  registering  births, 
deaths,  and  marriages,  and  the  form  of  marriage  itself ;  obligatory  on  all 
the  inhabitants  of  Canada,  but  which  are  such  as  to  run  entirely  counter 
to  all  the  customary  law  and  the  religious  convictions  of  the  Doukhobors. 
This  omission  eventually  caused  great  complications  in  the  relations 
between  the  Doukhobors  and  the  Canadian  authorities,  and  was  the  chief 
cause  of  the  general  agitation  and  the  disturbances  the  Canadian 
Doukhobors  have  recently  passed  through.” 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  took  pains  to  inform  myself  on  these  points,  and 
passed  the  information  on  to  the  Doukhobors  whom  I  was  able  to  reach. 
None  of  them  suggested  that  there  would  be  any  difficulty  about  the 
matter ;  and  what  shows  conclusively  that  the  demands  of  the  Canadian 
law  do  not  run  counter,  on  these  points,  to  any  principles  regarded  by  the 
Doukhobors  as  fundamental,  is  the  fact  that  since  early  in  1903,  when 
Peter  Verigin  reached  Canada,  the  Doukhobors  have  quietly  conformed 
to  the  law  ;  rendering  vital  statistics  and  registering  their  marriages. 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA  63 

that  of  an  elected  manager ,  but  was  of  a  very  different 
kind.) 

Tolstoy  had  himself  written  of  this  Appeal — 

44  The  facts  related  in  this  Appeal,  composed  by  three 
of  my  friends,  have  been  repeatedly  verified,  revised,  and 
sifted  ;  the  Appeal  itself  has  been  several  times  recast  and 
corrected ; 11  (Tolstoy’s  own  influence,  it  should  be  re¬ 
membered  to  his  credit,  had  been  used  on  the  side  of 
moderation)  44  everything  has  been  rejected  from  it  which, 
although  true,  might  seem  an  exaggeration  .  .  .  here 
we  have  people  who  have  realized  this  ideal”  ( i.e .  of  a 
Christian  life)  44  no  doubt  only  in  part,  and  not  com¬ 
pletely  ;  but  have  realized  it  in  a  way  we  did  not  dream 
of  doing  with  our  complex  State  institutions  .  .  .  The 
main  condition  of  a  realization”  (of  the  Christian  life) 
44  is  the  existence  and  gathering  together  of  such  people 
as  even  now  realize  that,  towards  which  we  are  all 
striving.  And  behold,  such  people  exist !  ” 

Subsequent  events  showed  that,  though  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  are  a  worthy  folk  :  industrious,  cleanly,  temperate, 
hospitable,  thrifty,  honest,  and  careful  of  their  children, 
many  of  them  are  also  ignorant,  suspicious,  fanatical, 
intensely  clannish,  and,  superstitious  to  the  point  ot 
attributing  divinity  to  their  Leader,  Peter  Verigin — who 
was  not  elected,  but  was  discovered  to  be  the  rightful 
possessor  of  the  Leadership  in  some  mysterious  way  never 
fully  explained  to  outsiders. 

Even  during  my  stay  in  Canada  I  began  to  be  sceptical 
about  the  claims  to  collective  saintship  set  up  for  the 
Doukhobors  by  the  Tolstoyans,  and  I  find,  in  the  records 
of  the  movement  published  at  the  time,  that  I  wrote — 

“  T  hey  are  men  with  human  limitations  and  deficiencies,  and  not 
the  plaster  saints  1  had  supposed  after  reading  the  literature  published 


64 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


about  them.  Being  men,  they  are  much  more  interesting  and  better 
worth  helping.  Had  they  been  saints,  it  would  have  seemed  almost 
a  pity  to  prevent  their  being  martyrs  also.’’ 


One  incident  that  helped  to  open  my  eyes  was  the 
conduct  of  Ivan  Ivin,  to  whom  a  sum  of  money  had  been 
given  (out  of  Eiloart’s  contribution)  under  the  impression 
that — the  Doukhobors  being  (as  was  supposed)  all  Com¬ 
munists — he  would  share  it  with  his  brethren  on  their 
/ 

arrival.  Ivin,  however,  we  found  to  be  strongly  of  opinion 
that  the  money  had  been  given  to  him  personally ;  and  his 
resolve  to  keep  it  for  himself  and  family  upset  my  belief 
in  the  universality  of  Communism  and  brotherhood  among 
this  folk. 

Then,  again,  Hilkoff — though  he  had  not  been  a 
witness  of  the  Doukhobor  religious  revival  of  the  last  few 


years,  and  therefore  was  unwilling  to  deny  the  reports 
supplied  by  the  more  ardent  Tolstoyans — had  seen 
in  the  past  enough  of  the  Doukhobors  to  know  that  there 
was  often  a  wide  gap  between  the  theory  of  non-resistance 
and  their  actual  practice.  For  instance,  he  told  a  story 
dating  back  to  a  time  when  the  Russian  Government 


was  forcing  on  the  Doukhobors  the  services  of  Orthodox 
Russian  priests.  An  order  was  issued  that  when  a 
Doukhobor  died  he  was  44  not  to  be  buried  without  a 
priest.”  On  one  occasion  the  priest  duly  arrived  to  per¬ 
form  the  service  at  a  Doukhobor  funeral,  but  the 
Doukhobors,  preferring  the  letter  to  the  spirit  of  the 
decree,  are  said  to  have  taken  him  and  to  have  actually 
buried  the  live  priest  together  with  the  dead  Doukhobor  ! 

I  would  not  have  it  supposed  that  Ivin  and  Mahortof 
produced  a  bad  impression  on  those  who  met  them. 
Quite  the  contrary :  serious,  calm,  well-mannered,  willing 
to  put  up  with  inconveniences,  they,  and  especially  the 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


65 


obedient,  active,  and  polite  children,  produced  a  very  good 
impression  on  the  Canadians. 

During  a  couple  of  weeks  while  Hilkdff  was  prospect¬ 
ing,  I  took  an  opportunity  to  visit  the  United  States. 
First,  however,  I  went,  at  his  request,  to  see  James  Mavor, 
Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Constitutional  History 
at  the  University  of  Toronto,  who  had  done  more  than 
any  one  else  to  interest  the  Canadian  Government  in  the 
Doukhobors  before  the  arrival  of  our  party.  He  had 
received  accounts  of  them  from  Peter  Kropotkin,  another 
good  friend  of  theirs,  and  a  great  admirer  of  Communal 
customs.  James  Mavor  took  me  to  lunch  one  day  with 
Goldwin  Smith :  a  fine  type  of  the  old  -  fashioned 
English  gentleman  transferred  to  a  Canadian  home.  He 
spoke  interestingly  of  the  days  when  he  and  Lord 
Robert  Cecil  (afterwards  Lord  Salisbury)  had  co-operated 
in  starting  the  Saturday  Review.  Lord  Salisbury,  as 
Goldwin  Smith  knew  him  in  those  days,  would  have 
had  no  sympathy  whatever  with  the  later  developments 
of  imperialism ;  and  our  host  spoke,  with  a  stimulating 
and  healthy  scorn,  of  recent  attempts  to  extend  civilization 
“  by  exterminating  the  wild  grafts  of  humanity.” 

I  went  on  to  Chicago  to  visit  Miss  Jane  Addams,  whom 
I  had  met  in  Moscow  two  years  before,  and  to  see  her 
admirable  Social  Settlement  at  Hull  House,  in  a  poor  dis¬ 
trict  thronging  with  immigrants  new  to  American  life  and 
needing  all  the  sympathy  and  help  the  occupants  of  Hull 
House  can  afford  them. 

Throughout  the  movement  I  had  steadily  refused 
personally  to  accept  contributions  for  the  Doukhobors. 
Here  in  Chicago,  however,  I  had  to  make  an  exception 
to  my  rule,  for  Miss  Mary  R.  Smith,  Miss  Jane  Addams’ 
niece,  had  raised  (from  her  own  family  and  her  private 

F 


66 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


purse)  a  sum  of  $200,  and,  hearing  that  Hilkdff  was  in 
danger  of  having  to  abandon  his  useful  work  for  lack  of 
funds,  wished  me  to  transmit  this  money  to  him  that  he 
might  be  enabled  to  prolong  his  stay  in  America. 

My  visit  to  Hull  House  has  left  a  strong  and  very 
pleasant  impression  on  my  mind.  Many  memories  crowd 
back,  as  I  think  of  that  visit.  They  include  a  call 
on  Henry  Demarest  Lloyd,  who,  by  the  way,  was  too 
strongly  socialistic  to  appreciate  Tolstoy’s  individualism. 

I  was  fortunate,  also,  in  meeting  many  other  in¬ 
teresting  people  in  Chicago.  Besides  the  residents  at 
Hull  House,  I  there  met  Professor  G.  D.  Herron,  who 
was  lecturing  on  “  the  social  sacrifice  of  conscience 11 ; 
John  P.  Gavit,  of  the  Commons  Settlement ;  and 
Albertson  and  Gibson,  leaders  of  the  “  Christian  Com¬ 
monwealth”  in  Georgia — an  attempt  in  which  Tolstoy 
took  an  interest,  but  which,  like  its  counterpart  in  Pur- 
leigh,  was  destined  soon  to  collapse,  involving  many  of  its 
members  in  distress  and  disappointment.  I  also  attended 
a  meeting  called  to  discuss  What  is  Art  ?  which  had  just 
appeared,  and  was,  I  think,  attracting  more  attention  in 
Chicago  than  it  had  done  in  London. 

To  Miss  Addams  I  owe  a  modification  of  my  under¬ 
standing  of  one  of  the  great  problems  dealt  with  by 
Tolstoy.  Non-resistance,  as  I  had  it  from  Tolstoy,  and 
as  it  is  held  by  many  Russian  Dissenters,  is  a  rule  of  con¬ 
duct  forbidding  the  use  of  physical  force,  and  involving  a 
variety  of  wide-reaching  conclusions :  disapproval  of  all 
Governments,  police,  voting,  property,  public  law,  etc. 

Non-Resistance,  as  practised  by  Miss  Addams,  is 
something  else.  It  is  an  attitude  of  mind,  and  not 
a  rigid  rule.  A  burly  policeman  stood  near  the  Settle¬ 
ment  door  —  a  friend  to  those  who  came  there. 

79 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


67 


Had  the  policeman  arrested  anybody,  Miss  Addams 
would  have  wished  to  understand  and  help  the  prisoner 
if  she  could,  though  she  would  not  necessarily  have 
wished  to  let  him  loose  upon  society,  regardless  of  con¬ 
sequences.  So,  also,  her  opposition  to  a  “  boodling 11 
Alderman  of  that  Ward  was  not  malicious.  The  motive 
prompting  her  strongly  to  oppose  his  election  was  not 
hatred  of  the  wrong-doer,  or  blindness  to  such  good 
qualities  as  he  possessed,  but  it  was  pity  for  the  poor, 
who  were  being  robbed.  PIull  House  went  into  municipal 
politics  reluctantly,  but  it  went  in  all  the  same,  feeling 
that  it  could  not  see  the  City  defrauded  without  trying 
to  right  matters,  and  to  protect  those  too  weak  or 
ignorant  to  protect  themselves.  The  Tolstoyan  non- 
resistant  “  principle  ”  is  a  rigid  rule,  from  which,  when 
treated  as  an  axiom,  deductions  can  be  drawn  which  are 
logical  without  being  reasonable  (for  the  axiom  from 
which  they  start  is  not  perfectly  sound).  Miss  Addams’ 
Non-Resistance,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  habit  of  mind  that 
makes  love  and  pity  the  motive  of  reform,  but  does  not 
necessarily  bar  out  the  benevolent  and  beneficent  use  of 
physical  force. 

I  remember,  when  I  first  met  Miss  Addams  in  Russia, 
arguing  with  her  in  favour  of  a  Tolstoyan  understanding 
of  Non-Resistance  (though  even  then  I  boggled  at  some  of 
his  more  extreme  deductions),  and  I  remember  the  effect 
— a  slow  effect  that  was  not  fully  operative  till  years 
after — of  her  non-resistant  practice  of  letting  me  state  my 
case  as  forcibly  as  I  could,  willingly  admitting  all  that 
seemed  valid,  and  merely  putting  questions  and  expressing 
doubts  that  her  own  experience  and  reflection  suggested. 
I  had  been  accustomed  to  meet  people  who  would  not 
listen  to  the  Tolstoyan  argument,  or  who  ridiculed  it,  or 


68 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


were  afraid  of  it,  or  evaded  it ;  on  the  other  hand,  I  had 
met  some  who  accepted  it  eagerly  and  let  the  vehemence 
of  Tolstoy’s  statements  sweep  them  off  their  own  feet. 
But  this  truly  non-resistant  attitude  of  willingly  consider¬ 
ing  all  that  could  be  said  for  it,  readily  welcoming  all  that 
was  good  in  it,  appreciating  its  author’s  force  and  sincerity, 
and  yet  maintaining  her  own  balance  and  a  steadfast 
faithfulness  to  lessons  learnt  by  a  different  experience  in 
other  surroundings,  was  new  to  me.  Its  effect  (to  compare 
bad  things  with  good)  was  like  the  effect  of  a  scratch  from 
a  poisoned  dagger.  I  was  hardly  conscious  that  it  had 
touched  me,  but,  steadily,  from  that  time  onward,  my 
faith  in  the  efficacy  of  the  Tolstoyan  formulary  waned, — 
until,  at  last,  years  later,  I  disentangled  the  Tolstoyan 
argument  against  political  action,  and  found  its  root  to 
lie  in  the  assertion  that  all  use  of  physical  force  to  restrain 
one’s  fellow-man  is  necessarily  wrong.  This  assertion  I 
now  reject,  though  it  comes  so  near  the  truth  and  so 
often  appears  true,  that  many  a  conscientious  and  thought¬ 
ful  man  has  accepted  it  as  valid.  It  is  an  axiom  on  which 
much  of  Tolstoy’s  political  teaching  will,  in  the  last 
analysis,  be  found  to  hang.  The  profound  truth  and 
extraordinary  power  of  much  of  that  great  thinker’s  work 
will,  I  am  convinced,  never  be  appreciated  at  its  true  value 
until  this  hasty  generalization,  which  has  caused  perplexity 
and  confusion  to  many  of  his  readers,  is  clearly  seen  to  be 
unsound. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  events  of  November,  1898. 

I  next  visited  Ernest  H.  Crosby,  who  has  done  so  much, 
both  by  lectures  and  books,  to  make  Tolstoy  known 
and  appreciated  in  America.  From  his  place  at  Rhine- 
beck  I  went  on  to  Philadelphia,  the  headquarters  of 
the  Quakers.  Here  I  met  many  worthy  and  estimable 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


69 


“  Friends.”  They  had  already  helped  the  Doukhobdrs 
generously,  and,  after  the  latter  had  reached  Canada,  no 
other  body  of  men  assisted  them  so  liberally  and  inde- 
fatigably  as  these  Philadelphia  Quakers.  Prominent 
among  them  was  Joseph  Elkinton,  senior,  whose  son  has 
since  written  a  book  which  gives  the  best  description  in  our 
language  of  the  Doukhobdrs  in  Canada.  There,  also,  I 
met  Rufus  Jones  and  Howard  Jenkins,  the  able  and  worthy 
editors  of  The  American  Friend  and  The  Friends'  Intelli¬ 
gencer , — as  well  as  many  other  sympathizers.  From  Phila¬ 
delphia  I  went  on  with  that  estimable  and  spiritually 
minded  man  Dr.  R.  H.  Thomas,  to  lecture  in  Baltimore, 
and  I  there  had  the  privilege  of  making  his  nearer 
acquaintance. 

I  had  rarely  attempted  to  speak  in  public  before  going 
to  America,  but  the  desire  there  for  information  about  the 
Doukhobdrs  started  me  off  as  a  lecturer,  an  activity  which 
I  have  continued  ever  since. 

On  my  return  to  New  York  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
dining  with  W.  D.  Howells — the  first  among  Americans 
to  draw  prominent  attention  to  Tolstoy's  genius.  His 
various  prefaces  and  articles  on  Tolstoy,  both  as  artist  and 
ethicist,  are  so  good  and  so  discriminatingly  appreciative, 
that  they  ought  to  be  collected  and  republished,  and 
made  accessible  in  England  as  well  as  in  America.  I 
was,  in  those  days,  rather  indignant  at  a  sentence  in 
one  article,  in  which  he  speaks  of  some  conclusions  of 
Tolstoy's  as  being  “logical,  but  not  reasonable.”  I  now 
know  very  well  what  he  meant,  and  have  since  often 
borrowed  the  phrase. 

In  New  York  I  found  a  good  friend  in  Miss  Wald,  of 
the  Nurses’  Settlement.  This  lady,  brought  up  in  com¬ 
fort,  once  found  herself  in  a  slum  district  and  had  a  chance 


70 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


to  see  how  the  poor  really  live  in  a  great  city.  The 
impression  that  the  scene  made  upon  her  was  too  powerful 
to  be  washed  away  by  the  tears  that  rushed  to  her  eyes, 
and  from  that  time  she  has  devoted  herself  to  such  work 
as  now  centres  at  the  Nurses^  Settlement.  The  American 
settlements  I  saw  struck  me  as  being  more  democratic, 
wider  in  their  sympathies,  and  more  hearty  than  the  one  or 
two  I  know  anything  of  in  London. 

Altogether,  one  of  the  most  surprising  and  hopeful 
experiences  of  my  life  was  the  extent  and  cordiality  of 
the  assistance  and  encouragement  rendered  to  those  of 
us  who  were  concerned  in  the  Doukhobdr  migration,  at  this 
difficult  and  critical  time.  It  was  as  though  an  unseen 
and  unsuspected  brotherhood — extending  from  remote 
Siberia  and  the  Caucasus,  including  dwellers  in  Moscow, 
London,  and  the  Essex  village  from  which  our  party 
started,  and  reaching  to  these  great  American  cities — 
had  suddenly  sprung  into  palpable  existence  to  do  a  work 
for  which  no  existing  organization  was  willing  to  be 
responsible. 

Of  a  different  character  were  some  funny  experiences  I 
had  with  New  York  newspapers.  An  enterprising  journalist 
whom  we  will  call  X,  read  up  what  he  could  extract  from 
one  or  two  Encyclopaedias  and  from  Stepniak's  book,  The 
Russian  Peasantry ,  and,  before  I  reached  New  York,  sup¬ 
plied  the  newspapers  with  fantastic  accounts  of  the 
Doukhobdrs  brought  up  to  date  by  his  own  imagination, 
and  embellished  by  a  history  and  geography  which  made 
up  in  originality  for  what  they  lacked  in  accuracy. 

On  the  night  I  reached  New  York  from  Baltimore, 
I  found  that  some  one  had  arranged  for  a  number  of 
reporters  to  interview  me.  I  told  them  a  plain  unvarnished 
tale  as  to  what  had  been  arranged  about  the  migration, 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


71 


but  my  account  was  far  from  satisfying  them.  “That’s 
not  what  we  have  been  saying,"”  observed  one.  “  I  know 
it’s  not,”  replied  I ;  “but  it’s  the  truth.”  “Anyway  it's 
not  such  good  copy  as  X  gave  us,”  remarked  another, 
closing  his  notebook,  and  preparing  to  depart.  “  You 
see,  we  don’t  like  going  back  on  what  we  have  once  said,” 
added  a  third ;  and,  one  by  one,  they  departed  dis¬ 
satisfied.  Among  the  announcements  they  had  made  in 
the  New  York  papers  were  the  following: — 

“  Four  thousand  Doukhobors  will  land  next  month  on  Manhattan 
Island.” 

iC  A  Mr.  Mode,  a  wealthy  Englishman,  who  for  years  has  lived 
with  Count  Tolstoi,  arrived  here  from  Russia  yesterday.  Mr.  Mode 
comes  to  confer  with  the  American  Committee  and  to  aid  in  preparing 
the  appeal  for  funds.’* 

Another  article  stated  that,  in  consecpience  of  an  ukase 
of  Paul  I., 

tc  About  15,000  of  the  Communists  were  'transported  .  .  /  In 
1800  they  got  permission  to  return  to  Russia,  and  about  15,000  ot 
them  went  back.  From  that  day  up  to  a  year  ago  they  were  driven 
from  one  part  of  Russia  to  another,  never  being  allowed  to  remain 
in  one  place  longer  than  six  mouths.  By  that  means  their  numbers 
have  been  reduced  to  10,000  .  .  .*’ 

Another  New  York  paper  announced  that  I  had  been 
to  Washington,  and 

“  A  portion  of  the  ground  in  Oregon  and  Washington  that  has 
been  chosen  by  Mr.  Maude  for  the  colony  is  now  under  cultivation.” 

Another  paper  published  a  fictitious  interview  with  me, 
in  which  I  was  made  to  say — 

“We  have  carefully  considered  the  question  where  to  colonize 
these  peasants.  We  have  already  secured  options  on  the  large  tracts 
of  good,  fertile  land  in  the  State  of  Oregon,  and  we  have  the  offer  of 
some  15,000  acres  in  the  State  of  Washington.” 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


70 

I 


These  absurd  reports  were  soon  reflected  in  the  Canadian 
papers. 

Many  of  the  rumours  thus  started  were  injurious  to  the 
Doukhobors,  and  were  sure  to  strengthen  Canadian  opposi¬ 
tion  to  their  immigration,  so  I  had  to  exert  myself  to  get 
them  publicly  contradicted.  This  was  no  easy  matter 
with  papers  that  “  don't  like  going  back  on  what  Hre  have 
once  said."  The  Evening  Post ,  however,  the  most  trust¬ 
worthy  and  weighty  of  New  York  papers,  kindly  inserted 
a  full  explanation,  and  the  New  York  Tribune  published  a 
letter  from  me,  recapitulating  the  main  facts  of  the  case, 
and  remarking; — 

“  The  fate  of  these  people  is  indeed  a  hard  one.  In  their  own 
country  they  could  not  get  their  views,  their  sufferings,  or  the  facts 
of  their  case  represented  at  all,  for  the  Government  issued  strict 
instructions  that  they  were  not  to  be  written  about  in  the  papers  ; 
in  this  country  (before  they  have  even  reached  this  continent)  they 
receive  publicity  enough,  but  their  history,  beliefs,  present  condition 
and  intentions  are  altogether  misrepresented.” 

From  New  York  I  returned  to  Ottawa  to  rejoin  Hil- 
kdff,  and  to  conclude  the  still  pending  arrangements  with 
the  Government.  From  Ottawa,  HilkofF  and  I  went  back 
to  Montreal,  where  we  were  much  indebted  to  Professor 
Cox  of  McGill  University,  and  to  Mrs.  Cox  (who  was  very 
active  in  assisting  the  Doukhobors  after  they  reached 
Canada  in  1899),  as  well  as  to  Dr.  Cunliffe  of  the  Gazette , 
his  wife,  and  other  friends,  whose  hospitality  and  kindness 
I  have  cause  gratefully  to  remember. 

In  December  I  went  to  Boston,  where  I  met  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  the  worthy  son  of  a  noble  father :  Charles 
Dole,  the  author  of  several  excellent  books  ;  N.  H.  Dole, 
the  translator  of  many  of  Tolstoy's  works  ;  Dr.  Robert  Ely, 
and  many  other  interesting  men.  From  here  I  sailed  on 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


73 


the  New  England,  and,  after  a  passage  finer  than  our  pas¬ 
sage  out  in  September,  I  reached  home  on  December  15, 
having  been  away  three  and  a  half  months.  The  trip, 
taken  all  in  all,  remains  one  of  the  pleasantest  recollec¬ 
tions  of  my  life,  and  in  order  not  to  overestimate  the  charm 
of  America  and  the  Americans,  I  always  have  to  remind 
myself  that  I  saw  an  exceptionally  favourable  section  of  it 
and  of  them. 

The  total  cost  to  me  of  my  trip,  including  telegrams 
and  incidental  expenses  on  behalf  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  came 
to  just  about  <P100. 

Before  I  left  Canada,  matters  were  so  far  advanced  that 
Leopold  Soulerzhitsky,  at  Batoiim,  had  been  empowered  by 
the  Doukhobdrs  and  their  friends  in  England  to  engage 
the  Beaver  Line  steamer,  Lake  Huron ,  to  convey  a  first 
party  of  about  2,100  Doukhobdrs  direct  from  Batoiim,  on 
the  Black  Sea,  to  Canada.  They  started  a  couple  of  weeks 
after  I  reached  England. 

It  was  in  December  1898,  Russian  style  (new  style, 
January  1899),  that  the  s.s.  Lake  Huron  left  the  port 
of  Batoiim. 

Soulerzhitsky  was  a  young  man  who  had  himself 
suffered  many  things  for  refusing  military  service  in 
Russia,  a  refusal  which  broke  down  when  he  was  induced 
to  believe  that  his  conduct  was  preying  on  the  mind  and 
endangering  the  life  of  his  old  father. 

The  voyage  of  the  Lake  Huron  broke  the  record  of 
previous  migrations  across  the  Atlantic :  never  before 
had  2,100  people  gone  on  one  ship  to  America  to  become 
permanent  settlers  there.  On  January  23rd,  after  nearly 
a  month’s  voyage,  they  reached  Halifax  in  Nova  Scotia, 
not  before  some  of  the  Doukhobor  women  had  lost  faith 
in  Soulerzhitsky  and  given  themselves  up  for  lost.  To 


74 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


induce  them  to  take  plenty  of  fresh  air,  he  deluded  them 
into  looking  out  for  land  when  they  were  only  half  across 
the  Atlantic.  After  a  few  days  of  this,  he  saw  some  of 
the  women  looking  very  dejected,  and  when  he  asked  what 
was  the  matter,  they  shook  their  heads  dismally,  and  told 
him  the  steamer  had  “  lost  its  way.”  Inquiring  why  they 
thought  so,  he  was  told  that  the  time  by  their  watches  no 
longer  agreed  with  the  sun,  and  that  the  sun  that  used 
to  rise  on  one  side  of  the  vessel  now  rose  on  the  other ! 
Nothing  he  could  say  quite  dispelled  their  fears  ;  but  in  due 
course  land  really  was  seen,  and  a  cordial  welcome  awaited 
the  Doukhobors  on  their  arrival  in  the  New  World. 

The  Lake  Huron  was  soon  followed  across  the  Atlantic 
by  the  Lake  Superior ,  and  each  of  these  vessels  made  a 
second  trip,  so  that  by  June  1899,  7,363  Doukhobors  had 
reached  Canada,  leaving  some  12,000  Doukhobors  in  the 
Caucasus,  who  did  not  wish  to  emigrate;  and  about  110 
others  in  exile  in  Siberia. 

It  does  not,  properly,  belong  to  this  chapter  to  tell  of 
Leopold  Soulerzhitsky  and  the  excellent  way  in  which  he 
organized  that  first  ship-load  of  emigrants  ;  but  I  cannot 
refrain  from  testifying  to  the  merit  of  his  work,  and 
the  capacity  he  showed.  Another  worker,  whose  sound 
judgment  and  unselfish  exertions  in  another  line  deserve 
special  mention,  is  Herbert  P.  Archer,  who  went  to  Canada 
to  meet  the  Doukhobors  on  their  arrival,  and  there  con¬ 
tinued  the  work  I  had  commenced,  as  an  intermediary 
between  the  Canadian  Government  and  the  Doukhobors. 
Hilkdff  remained  in  Canada  till  all  four  ship-loads  of 
Doukhobors  had  arrived,  and  had  been  settled  on  their 
locations. 

In  Russia,  wide  publicity  has  been  given  to  two 
booklets  about  the  Doukhobors  by  “  P.  A.  Tverskdy”  (the 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


75 


pseudonym  of  a  Russian  exile,  who  has  made  a  fortune 
in  California).  The  first  of  these  devotes  much  space  to  an 
attempt  to  represent  the  provinces  of  Manitoba,  Assiniboia, 
Saskatchewan,  and  Prince  Albert  as  almost  uninhabitable, 
owing  to  the  severity  of  the  climate.  44  Only  the  southern 
third  of  Manitoba  and  a  narrow  strip  of  Southern  Assiniboia 
are  fit  for  agriculture.”  The  inhabitants,  he  says,  are 
annually  condemned  to  44  eight  or  nine  months  of  absolute 
idleness.”  The  absurdity  of  all  this  is  abundantly  shown 
by  the  remarkable  success  recently  achieved  in  Assiniboia 
and  Saskatchewan,  not  only  by  the  Doukhobdrs,  but  by 
thousands  of  other  settlers.  In  the  second  of  his  book¬ 
lets  :  New  Chapters  of  the  Doukhobor  Epic,  Tverskoy  makes 

offensive  insinuations  against  Prince  H -  (obviously 

meaning  Prince  D.  A.  Hilkdff,  whom  he  cannot  forgive 
for  not  having  settled  the  Doukhobdrs  in  California)  and 
concerning  the  Government  bonus  money,  which  amounted 
to  over  $35,000.  Tverskoy  says  : 

44  The  Doukhobdrs  themselves,  dozens  of  them  from 
different  villages,  have  said  one  and  the  same  thing  to  me, 
— believing  that  the  whole  amount,  or  at  least  part  of  the 
money,  has  been  4  made  away  with,’  and  has  not  reached 
them.”  And,  in  a  footnote,  he  adds  his  own  supposition 

that  Prince  PI -  handed  this  money  over  to  W.  F. 

McCreary,  and  that  the  latter  44  disposed  ”  of  it  as  best 
pleased  himself,  without  rendering  any  accounts. 

In  view  of  these  insinuations,  I  wish  to  state  just  what 
really  occurred.  The  Canadian  Government  never  en¬ 
trusted  these  funds  to  Prince  Hilkdff  at  all ;  nor  did  he 
ever  ask  them  to  do  so.  A  reference  to  the  letter  to  me 
from  James  A.  Smart,  Deputy  Minister  of  the  Interior 
(given  in  the  Appendix),  will  show  what  the  Government 
did  with  the  money. 


76 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


They  arranged  that  it  should  be  spent  and  accounted 
for  by  reliable  officials  of  the  Immigration  Department. 
The  accounts  were  duly  rendered,  and  were  examined  on 
behalf  of  the  Doukhobdrs  by  H.  P.  Archer ;  certain  small 
discrepancies  that  had  accidentally  occurred  were  rectified, 
and  copies  of  the  accounts  were  passed  on  by  Archer  to 
P.  Verigin,  after  the  latter  reached  Canada.  There  is, 
therefore,  no  room  whatever  for  insinuations  of  dishonesty 
or  misappropriation.  Besides  the  $35,000  due  according 
to  agreement,  the  Canadian  Government  ultimately  spent 
about  another  $20,000  in  settling  the  Doukhobdrs.  Part 
of  this  extra  expenditure  the  Doukhobdrs  have  agreed  to 
refund. 

The  services  rendered  by  the  Doukhobor  Committee 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  in  London,  deserve  most  grateful 
mention.  After  my  return  from  America  I  made  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  the  members  of  that  committee,  and  was 
allowed  to  attend  several  of  their  meetings.  It  was 
through  them,  and  not  without  financial  assistance  from 
them,  that  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  steamers  were 
chartered  for  the  migration.  They  supplied  what  the 
movement  needed  ;  men  accustomed  to  the  transaction 
of  business,  inspiring  confidence  in  others,  and  able  and 
ready  to  raise  considerable  sums  when  necessary.  The 
names  of  the  members  of  this  committee  were  William 
A.  Albright,  Edmund  Wright  Brooks,  Frederick  G.  Cash, 
Samuel  F.  Hurnard,  Thos.  W.  Marsh,  Henry  T.  Mennell, 
Arthur  Midgley,  Thos.  P.  Newman,  Metford  Warner,  and 
John  Bellows.  John  Bellows  acted  as  “  clerk ,1  to  the 
committee.  He  was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  on  behalf 
of  the  Doukhobdrs,  and  was  most  forbearing  to  their 
imperfections,  which  soon  became  obvious. 

The  committee  laboured  under  the  disadvantage  of 


PREPARATIONS  IN  CANADA 


77 


not  knowing  the  Doukhobors  intimately,  and  of  having 
to  obtain  information  at  second  hand ;  but  their  generous 
exertions  were  of  the  greatest  importance  in  enabling  the 
work  to  be  carried  to  a  successful  conclusion,  and  no  one 
who  had  the  privilege  of  co-operating  with  them  could 
fail  to  appreciate  the  interest  they  took  in  a  people  in 
many  respects  so  remote  from  themselves. 

Among  other  services  rendered  by  the  Friends  to 
the  Doukhobors  were  the  exertions  of  William  Sturge, 
who  went  out  to  Cyprus,  tried  to  make  the  settlement 
there  a  success,  and  when  that  appeared  impossible,  wound 
up  affairs,  and  facilitated  the  removal  of  the  Cyprus  Dou¬ 
khobors  to  Canada.  His  death  took  place  just  as  he  was 
preparing  to  return  to  England,  having  finished  his  un¬ 
selfish  labours  on  their  behalf. 

Among  the  Doukhobors  in  Canada  the  Friends  have, 
again,  been  foremost  in  educational  work.  Mrs.  Varney 
had  a  dispensary  among  them  in  the  summer  of  1899,  and 
her  young  cousin,  Miss  Nellie  E.  Baker,  started  the  first 
Doukhobdr  school  next  year.  Since  then  Nurse  Boyle 
has  been  among  them  ;  and  Miss  Helen  Morland  (now 
Mrs.  John  A.  Ransome),  Miss  Hannah  Bellows  and  Miss 
Jessie  A.  Wood  have  carried  on  similar  work,  which 
must  have  been  valuable  not  only  directly  by  helping 
the  Doukhobors  to  learn  English,  but  indirectly  by 
making  them  acquainted  with  English-speaking  people 
of  high  character,  and  thus  disarming  the  suspicions  and 
disapproval  which  the  Doukhobors  are  apt  to  feel  towards 
those  who  do  not  belong  to  their  sect. 

One  curious  fact  recounted  both  by  Soulerzhftsky  and 
by  Bontch-Broudvitch  (another  Russian  helper,  who  has 
spent  much  time  in  studying  the  Doukhobdr  chants, 
etc.),  was  that  the  Doukhobors  could  not  believe  that 


78 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


these  Russian  helpers  had  come  among  them  of  their 
own  free  will.  Soulerzhitsky,  for  instance,  reached  a 
Doukhobdr  village  late  one  night,  tired  with  arrange¬ 
ments  he  had  been  making  on  their  behalf,  and  asked  a 
Doukhobdr  to  put  his  horse  up  for  him.  The  Doukhobdr 
told  Soulerzhitsky  to  do  it  himself.  The  latter  remon¬ 
strated,  and  said  he  was  wearing  himself  out  in  their 
service  and  they  ought  to  be  grateful.  This  the  Dou¬ 
khobdr  could  not  see  at  all.  44  If,"'  said  he,  44  our  Leader 
told  us  to  go  anywhere  and  help  any  one  we  should  do  it, 
and  expect  no  gratitude ;  we  should  do  it  for  our  Leader, 
not  for  the  people  we  helped.  So  you  also  are  sent  here 
by  your  leader,  Tolstoy ;  and  you  have  to  do  what  he  tells 
you,  and  must  not  expect  gratitude  from  us  for  obeying 
him.” 

In  the  same  way  when  Bontch-Brouevitch  was  leaving 
Canada,  some  Doukhobdrs  decided  to  write  to  Tolstoy, 
asking  the  latter  to  order  Bontch-Brouevitch  to  remain 
for  some  months  longer.  They  were  quite  surprised  when 
they  found  that  Bontch-Brouevitch  continued  to  carry  out 
his  own  plans  without  waiting  for  instructions  from  his 
44  Leader.11 

The  idea  that  people  can  live  independently,  using 
their  own  judgment,  and  not  relying  on  orders  from  a 
Leader,  seemed  hard  for  them  to  grasp,  and  the  subsequent 
chapters  of  this  book  will  explain  why  this  was  so. 


CHAPTER  III 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 

The  Russian  Church  has  never  undergone  any  convulsion 
so  powerful,  or  politically  successful,  as  the  Reformation 
which  rent  Western  Christendom  in  twain  ;  but  from  the 
earliest  times  down  to  to-day,  dissent  has  existed,  now 
burning  up  fiercely,  now  dropping  almost  out  of  the  ken 
of  history,  now  reappearing  in  fresh  forms,  but  always 
there,  ready  to  make  itself  felt  when  circumstances 
favoured  it. 

A  glance  at  Russian  Dissent  during  the  last  few 

O  O 

centuries,  and  at  some  foreign  movements  which  influenced 
it,  will  help  us  to  understand  the  problem  before  us ;  and 
if  we  start  from  the  Judaizers,  mentioned  in  the  first 
chapter  of  this  book,  it  may  be  possible  to  trace  a  line  of 
spiritual  dissent  ending  in  the  Doukhobdrs,  whose  Leaders, 
towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  appear  to  have 
been  representatives  of  an  advanced  school  of  religious 
thought. 

The  Judaizers  were  a  sect  of  the  fifteenth  century 
who  combined  Jewish  tendencies  with  rationalism.  They 
denied  the  divinity  of  Jesus  and  rejected  the  worship  of 
icons.  The  movement  apparently  commenced  in  Novgorod, 
spread  to  Moscow,  and  for  a  time  achieved  considerable 
success,  obtaining  adherents  even  at  Court.  In  1504, 
however,  this  heresy  was  crushed  ;  some  of  the  Leaders 

79 


80 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

were  burnt  to  death,  and  others  were  imprisoned.  Those 
followers  of  the  sect  who  escaped  were  scattered  over 
Russia.  What  appears  to  be  a  small  remnant  of  it  has 
continued  to  exist  till  to-day  in  the  sect  of  Sabbatarians 
(Soubbdtniki). 

Earlier  than  this,  the  Bohemians  (Czechs),  who  form 
the  western  outpost  of  the  Slavonic  race  in  Europe,  had 
shown  strong  tendencies  in  the  direction  of  liberal  and 
democratic  religion.  They  form,  as  it  were,  a  link 
between  the  Protestantism  of  the  West  and  Russian 
rationalist  dissent.  John  Huss  had  taught  that,  “  in  the 
things  which  pertain  to  salvation,  God  is  to  be  obeyed 
rather  than  man,1'  and  had  refused  to  have  his  opinions 
chosen  for  him  by  the  Council  of  Constance,  by  whose 
order  he  was  burnt  in  1415,  his  soul  having  first  been 
formally  consigned  to  the  devil. 

It  is  going  rather  far  afield,  but  one  must,  in  passing, 
recall  the  fact  that  Huss  was  greatly  influenced  by  Wyclif 
(1320-84),  whose  most  radical  opinions  we  shall  find 
reappearing  among  the  Russian  sects.  Wyclif  went  far 
in  the  direction  of  freedom  of  thought  and  the  demo¬ 
cratization  of  religion  ;  he  formally  denied  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation  ;  he  repudiated  pardons,  indulgences, 
absolutions,  pilgrimages  to  the  shrines  of  saints,  worship 
of  their  images,  and  worship  of  the  saints  themselves. 
His  final  appeal  was  to  the  Bible  as  the  one  ground  of 
faith,  and  this  was  coupled  with  an  assertion  of  the  right 
of  every  instructed  man  to  examine  the  Bible  for  himself. 
“  He  asked  that  all  religious  vows  might  be  suppressed, 
that  tithes  might  be  diverted  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
poor,  and  the  clergy  maintained  by  the  free  alms  of  their 
flocks.”  *  He  reminded  the  Pope  that,  “  Christ,  during 
*  Green’s  Short  History  of  the  English  People. 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


81 


His  life  upon  earth,  was  of  all  men  the  poorest,  casting 
from  Him  all  worldly  authority/1  And  added,  “  I  deduce 
from  these  premises,  as  a  simple  counsel  of  my  own,  that 
the  Pope  should  surrender  all  temporal  authority  to  the 
civil  power  and  advise  his  clergy  to  do  the  same.11 

“  He  seems,11  says  Priestly,  “  to  have  thought  it  was 
wrong  to  take  away  the  life  of  man  on  any  account,  and 
that  war  was  utterly  unlawful.11 

His  followers,  in  the  Lollard  movement,  were  by  no 
means  always  so  opposed  to  the  use  of  force  as  he  was, 
but  a  glance  at  such  a  work  as  Thorold  Rogers1  essay  on 
“John  Wiklif1’  suffices  to  show  how  remarkably  near 
the  Lollards  were  to  the  Tolstoyan  or  the  Doukhobor 
position  of  to-day. 

“  Among  these  preachers  none  were  more  active  than 
William  Smith  and  William  Swinderby.  6  The  former  of 
these,1  says  an  unfriendly  annalist,  “ .  .  .  became  an  austere 
man,  vowed  a  single  life,  left  off  linen;  abjured  flesh, 
fish,  wine,  and  beer,  as  if  they  were  poison ;  went  about 
barefoot.1 

“  As  William  Smith  went  beyond  the  Oxford  preachers, 
so  William  Swinderby  went  beyond  Smith.  He  railed  at 
the  women  for  their  extravagant  dress,  till  they  tried  to 
stone  him ;  he  denounced  the  rich  merchants  and  rich 
landlords,  till  he  drove  them  to  despair.  He  advised 
the  people  to  withhold  tithes  and  offerings  from  immoral 
and  incompetent  priests,  and  announced  the  Divine  wrath 
against  those  who  sued  or  imprisoned  their  debtors. 

“  Other  priests,  such  as  were  Ball  and  Straw,  went 
still  further.  They  preached  about  the  natural  equality 
of  man,  of  the  descent  of  all  from  a  common  and  humble 
stock  ;  of  the  profusion  and  rapacity  of  those  who  make 
themselves  rich,  and  keep  others  poor  by  violence;  of 

G 


82 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


the  hopelessness  of  attempting  to  better  the  condition 
of  the  peasantry,  except  by  a  combination  and  an 
uprising. 

44  It  was  a  favourite  adage  of  Wiklif,  that  4  dominion 
is  founded  in  grace/  This  quaint  theological  expression, 
when  interpreted  in  modern  language,  means  no  more 
than  that  obedience  to  government  is  based  on  its  moral 
use.  To  a  government  immoral,  selfish,  rapacious, 
Wiklif  counselled  resistance.  But  his  resistance  is  en¬ 
durance  and  remonstrance.  ‘Antichrist  argues  thus,1  he 
says  in  one  of  his  sermons,  4  to  keep  men  fighting, 
teaching  that  men  should  fight,  as  an  adder  naturally 
stings  a  man  who  treads  on  her.  .  .  .  But  here  methinks 
the  fiend  destroys  many  by  the  falseness  of  his  reasons 
and  principles.  If  it  be  lawful  to  withstand  violence  by 
strength,  it  is  lawful  to  fight  with  them  that  stand  against 
us.  Well  I  wot  that  angels  stand  against  fiends,  and 
many  men  by  strength  of  law  withstand  their  enemies 
and  kill  them  not,  nor  even  fight  against  them.  But 
wise  men  of  the  world  hold  these  means  for  strength,  and 
thus  vanquish  their  enemies  without  stroke ;  and  men  of 
the  Gospel  vanquish  by  patience ,  and  come  to  rest  and  peace 
by  suffering.  Right  so  we  may  do,  if  we  keep  charity.11 

By  his  doctrine  of  44  Dominion,11  Wycliff  struck  at  the 
root  of  all  arbitrary  power  unworthily  used.  44  Dominion,'1 
said  he, 44  can  in  its  highest  and  purest  sense  belong  to  God 
alone.  He  deals  it  out  to  men  in  their  several  stations  and 
offices  on  condition  of  obedience  to  His  commandments ; 
mortal  sin,  therefore,  breaks  the  link  and  deprives  man  of 
his  authority.11  It  was  the  revolutionary  nature  of  this 
doctrine  that  cost  Huss  his  life.  44  If,11  said  he,  44  a  bishop 
or  a  prelate  is  in  mortal  sin,  he  is  no  longer  pope,  bishop, 
or  prelate ;  still  more,  if  a  king  is  in  mortal  sin,  he  is  not 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


83 


truly  a  king  before  God.11  To  which  the  Cardinal  of 
Cambrai  replied  :  “  What,  is  it  not  enough  for  you  to  over¬ 
throw  the  Church  ?  Do  you  wish  to  attack  kings  ?  11  * 

Following  Huss,  in  Bohemia,  came  Peter  of  Chelcic, 
a  cobbler  by  trade  (active  as  a  writer  between  1430  and 
1456),  who  went  still  further.  Pipin,  the  Russian  author 
of  A  History  of  Czech  Literature ,  says — 

“The  primitive  Church  is  Peter  of  Chelcic’s  (Heltclutsky’s)  ideal 
of  a  social  organization,  founded  on  equality,  liberty,  and  brother¬ 
hood.  In  his  opinion,  Christianity  actually  contains  these  prin¬ 
ciples  ;  it  is  only  necessary  for  society  to  return  to  the  pure  Christian 
teaching,  and  all  other  organizations,  with  their  kings  and  popes, 
will  prove  superfluous  ;  the  law  of  love  will  be  all-sufficient.  .  .  . 

u  Historically,  he  ascribes  the  commencement  of  the  decadence 
of  Christianity  to  the  time  of  Constantine,  whom  Pope  Sylvester 
converted  to  Christianity  without  altering  his  pagan  life  and  morals. 
Constantine,  in  return,  conferred  on  the  Pope  riches  and  secular 
authority.  F rom  that  time  forth,  the  two  powers  have  always  helped 
one  another,  and  have  sought  for  external  glory.  Doctors,  Masters 
of  Arts,  and  the  clergy,  have  been  anxious  only  to  bring  the  whole 
world  into  subjection  to  their  authority ;  have  armed  men  against 
one  another  to  murder  and  rob,  and  have  quite  destroyed  both  the 
faith  and  practice  of  Christianity.  Peter  of  Chelcic  absolutely 
denies  the  lawfulness  of  war  or  corporal  punishment.  Every 
soldier,  even  if  he  be  a  knight,  is  simply  a  user  of  violence,  a  wrong¬ 
doer  and  a  murderer.” 

“  Peter  of  Chelcic  appears  to  have  had  much  influence. 
1 1  is  followers  were  called  the  Brethren  of  Chelcic  ;  in  1457 
they  formed  a  community,  whose  founder,  Gregory,  an¬ 
nounced  that  he  and  his  companions  taught  the  rejection 
of  oaths,  of  the  military  profession,  of  all  official  rank, 
titles,  and  endowments,  and  of  any  hierarchy.'’1 1 

“  He  also  taught  that  the  people  ought  not  to  pay 

*  See  “  The  Poor  Man’s  Gospel,”  in  The  English  Peasant,  by  Richard 
Heath. 

f  J.  Sutherland  Black,  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 


84 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


either  tax  or  tribute  or  interest,  nor  to  perform  forced 
labour;  nor  can  a  true  Christian  demand  justice  in  the 
Law  Courts.  To  do  so  is  to  put  confidence  in  man, 
and  to  seek  to  be  avenged  by  force.”  * 

Readers  of  the  true  and  touching  story  of  “  Graden- 
hiitten  ”  in  W.  D.  Howell's  Three  Villages ,  will  re¬ 
member  that  the  non-resistant  Indians  massacred  by 
white  men,  beyond  the  Ohio,  in  1782,  were  converts  of 
the  Moravians,  who  carried  on  the  traditions  of  these 
Bohemian  reformers. 

Before  we  come,  after  the  Judaizers,  to  the  next  mani¬ 
festation  of  rationalism  on  Russian  soil,  the  Reformation 
had  occurred  in  Germany,  and,  undoubtedly,  exercised 
an  influence  in  Russia,  though  it  failed  to  evoke  any 
movement  of  corresponding  strength  there.  It  was  in 
1517  that  Luther  nailed  his  ninety-five  theses  to  the 
church  door  in  Wittenburg.  By  1523,  the  Reformers 
already  had  a  church  in  Riga,  and  by  the  middle  of  the 
century  they  had  churches  at  Kief,  Poddlia,  and  elsewhere 
in  what  now  is  Russia.  The  effect  of  Protestantism  in 
strengthening  and  encouraging  Russian  Dissent  is,  from 
that  time  onwards,  a  constant,  though  never  a  very 
prominent  factor. 

Among  the  many  Protestant  sects  whose  tenets  will 
reappear  as  we  proceed  to  study  the  Doukhobdrs,  the  one 
that  most  particularly  deserves  attention  is  the  sect  of 
Anabaptists — the  extreme  left  wing  of  the  army  of  the 
Reformation.  They  held  to  the  independence  of  individual 
judgment  and  the  supreme  importance  of  the  subjective 
consciousness  in  religion.  They  rejected  infant  baptism  ; 
but  what  is  much  more  to  the  purpose  is  that  they  wished 
to  establish  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  and  were 


*  Richard  Heath. 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


85 


unwilling  to  render  allegiance  to  any  authorities  that  failed 
to  maintain  a  just  order  of  society.  They  were  active  in 
the  revolt  of  1525,  when  the  peasants  claimed  that  their 
right  to  elect  and  dismiss  their  own  Church  ministers 
should  be  recognized,  that  tithes  should  be  reduced  and 
go,  in  part,  to  maintain  the  poor,  that  serfdom  should  be 
abolished,  “  since  Christ  has  redeemed  us  all ;  ”  and  that 
game,  fish,  and  fowl  should  be  free  to  all  as  God  created 
them  ;  that  the  appropriation  of  forests  by  the  rich  should 
not  be  allowed ;  and  that  fair  rents,  the  abolition  of  arbi¬ 
trary  punishments,  and  the  restoration  of  common  land 
should  be  granted ;  and,  finally,  that  all  these  claims 
should  be  tested  by  Scripture. 

The  Anabaptists  were  not  all  of  one  mind.  The  tenets 
of  the  more  peaceable  section  included  belief  in  an  elect 
people  ordained  to  reign  over  the  earth  to  extirpate  evil ; 
community  of  goods ;  no  marriage  or  community  of  wor¬ 
ship  with  the  unregenerate  ;  adult  baptism ;  and  no  com¬ 
pulsion  in  matters  of  faith.  Capital  punishment,  pleadings 
in  Courts  of  Law,  oaths,  and  all  absolute  power,  they 
considered  to  be  incompatible  with  Christian  faith. 
Melancthon,  who  was  unfriendly  to  them,  has  given  a 
summary  of  the  views  of  the  more  violent  section,  which 
included  the  opinion  :  “  that  a  Christian  who  rules  by  the 
sword  can  neither  be  prince  nor  regent,  nor  exert  any 
authority  whatever;  that  Christians  recognize  as  their 
superiors  only  those  who  are  servants  of  the  word  of  God  ; 
that  a  Christian  ought  to  possess  no  property,  but  live  in 
fraternity  and  community,  as  did  the  apostolic  society  ; 
that  there  can  be  no  marriage  between  one  who  has  faith 
and  one  who  has  not,  such  a  marriage  being  prostitution.” 

Hardly  any  sect  has  suffered  such  merciless  persecution 
as  the  Anabaptists.  It  has  had  in  its  ranks  many  martyrs, 


86 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


and  there  is  every  reason  to  consider  that  it  was,  at  first, 
a  sincere  protest  against  the  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the 
rich,  and  against  the  abuse  of  power  by  the  governing 
classes.  Unfortunately,  the  Anabaptists  when  they 
obtained  power  made  a  worse  use  of  it  than  those  had 
done  whom  they  denounced.  Ardent  reformers  are  too 
apt  to  suppose  that  were  existing  governments  abolished 
all  would  go  well  in  the  world,  and  people  would  then 
naturally  behave  rightly.  The  case  of  the  Anabaptists 
does  not  support  this  supposition,  but  rather  inclines  one 
to  believe  that  those  who  are  fiercest  in  denunciation  of 
existing  wrongs  are  often  the  least  likely  to  succeed  in  the 
practical  work  of  organizing  a  better  state  of  society. 

In  1533-6,  the  Anabaptists  made  a  determined 
attempt  to  establish  a  theocracy  at  Munster,  in  West¬ 
phalia,  where  they  had  gained  influence.  They  succeeded 
in  obtaining  control  of  the  town  and  deposing  the  magis¬ 
trates.  In  April  1534,  Count  Waldeck,  its  expelled 
bishop,  began  a  siege  of  Munster,  which  lasted  fourteen 
months.  When  the  Anabaptists  had  got  rid,  within  their 
borders,  of  all  the  wicked  authorities  they  had  been 
denouncing,  they  were  face  to  face  with  the  task  of  hold¬ 
ing  society  together  and  making  it  possible  to  continue 
corporate  life.  John  of  Leyden  (Johann  Bockhold),  who 
had  been  a  tailor  and  was  one  of  the  most  energetic  of 
the  sect,  became  supreme.  Announcing  himself  to  be  the 
successor  of  David,  he  claimed  royal  honours  and  absolute 
power  in  the  new  “Sion.”  Arbitrary  and  extravagant 
measures  were  justified  by  visions  he  received  from 
heaven.  With  this  sanction  he  introduced  polygamy  and 
took  four  wives,  one  of  whom  he,  in  a  paroxysm  of  fury, 
beheaded  with  his  own  hand  in  the  market-place.  The 
town  was  captured  in  1535,  and  John  of  Leyden  and 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM  87 

some  of  his  followers  were  executed,  after  being  cruelly 
tortured. 

In  the  history  of  the  Doukhobdrs  we  shall  come  upon 
occurrences  which,  in  their  sad  contrast  between  aim 
and  execution,  recall  this  experience  of  the  Anabaptist 
movement. 

After  the  Judaizers,  the  next  advance  in  a  rationalist 
direction  of  which  we  have  evidence  in  Russia,  is  that  of 
Bashkin.  This  movement  commenced  beyond  the  Volga. 
One  of  its  first  adherents  was  Ivassian,  Bishop  of  Kazan. 

One  day,  at  confession,  Bashkin  expressed  a  wish  to 
have  a  reasonable  knowledge  of  religion,  and  that  the 
holy  faith  might,  in  the  persons  of  its  appointed  servants, 
produce  fruit  among  the  people.  “  In  matters  of  religion,11 
said  he,  “  words  are  not  sufficient,  deeds  are  required  ;  the 
whole  law  is  summed  up  in  the  saying,  ‘Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbour  as  thyself.1 11  Puzzled  how  to  deal  with  a 
penitent  of  this  kind,  the  priest  reported  him  to  the 
higher  authorities. 

Bashkin  did  not  consider  Jesus  to  be  God  equal  with 
the  Father.  He  did  not  hold  the  bread  and  wine  in  the 
Eucharist  to  be  truly  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ.  Icons 
of  the  virgin  and  of  the  saints  he  called  idols.  Confession 
to  a  priest  he  looked  upon  as  useless,  saying,  that  if  a 
man  ceases  to  sin  he  will  be  free  from  sin  even  though  he 
has  confessed  to  no  priest.  He  did  not  consider  the 
traditions  of  the  Church  binding.  The  lives  of  the  saints 
he  held  to  be  fabulous.  He  rejected  the  authority  of  the 
Ecumenical  Councils.  Of  the  Bible  he  said  that  he  did 
not  accept  what  was  not  included  in  the  Gospels  and  the 
Epistles.  Prayer  for  the  dead  he  thought  useless,  and  all 
prayer,  apart  from  conduct  corresponding  thereto,  futile. 

In  1552  the  Metropolitan  Makarius  laid  information 


88 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


of  this  new  heresy  before  Ivan  the  Terrible  ;  and  a  Council 
of  the  Church  condemned  Bashkin  and  some  of  his 
followers  to  imprisonment.* 

Bashkin’s  teaching  was  followed  by  Kosdy,  a  Moscovite 
by  birth,  who  had  been  a  servant  of  a  Boyar  at  Court, 
but  had  run  away  from  his  master  and  had  entered  the 
Byelo  Lake  Monastery  as  a  monk.  There  he  heard  of,  and 
adopted,  the  doctrines  of  Bashkin.  Kosdy  denied  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  said  that  Jesus  was  not  God, 
but  simply  a  man.  He  rejected  the  theory  of  the 
Redemption,  pointing  out  that  it  ^as .  not  done  away 
with  death,  as  it  should  have  done  had  it  really  redeemed 
us  from  the  effects  of  Adam’s  sin.  Rejecting  icons,  he 
also  refused  to  believe  in  miracles  performed  by  them. 
He  thought  it  wrong  to  pray  to  the  saints,  and  considered 
that  their  relics  ought  to  be  buried,  and  not  indecently 
exposed  in  churches.  The  prayers,  fasts,  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church,  Kosdy  considered  to  be  ordained  merely 
by  human  traditions.  He  rejected  monasticism  ;  re¬ 
proached  the  Church  with  its  lack  of  unanimity ;  and 
said  that  the  bishops,  by  rejecting  heretics  and  not  accept¬ 
ing  their  repentance,  broke  the  law  of  the  Lord  which 
commands  us  to  forgive  sinners  even  if  they  repeat  their 
sin.  In  general,  he  adopted  the  teachings  of  Bashkin, 
and  carried  them  to  further  conclusions.  In  1555  Kosdy 
was  condemned  to  confinement  in  a  monastery,  but 
escaped,  and  made  his  way  into  Lithuania. 

The  Molokans  (who  are  sometimes  classed  as  a  twin 
sect  with  the  Doukhobdrs)  in  a  statement  of  their  faith 

*  See  Livanofs  Raslcdlnilci  i  Ostrdzhnilci,  vol.  i.  chap.  8,  for  an 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  Molokans  and  Doukhobdrs.  See  also  the 
second  edition  (published  in  1882)  of  Novitsky’s  valuable  work  on  the 
Doukhobdrs. 


SOURCES  OF  DOUIvHOBORISM 


89 


printed  at  Geneva,  attribute  their  origin  to  the  reign  of 
Ivan  the  Terrible.*  In  his  reign,  they  say,  an  English 
doctor  was  employed  by  the  Court,  in  Moscow.  The 
common  people,  in  their  ignorance,  regarded  him  as 
Antichrist  and  closed  their  gates  and  doors  against  him. 
At  Court,  he  made  acquaintance  with  an  influential 
landowner  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Tambof,  and  had 
much  conversation  with  him  about  the  Bible,  which  was  a 
book  that,  in  Russia,  people  were  not  then  allowed  to 
possess.  This  landowner  had  a  favourite  servant,  an 
intelligent  and  educated  man  named  Matthew  Semenof, 
who  understood  Bible  truths  more  readily  than  his  master, 
and  soon  began  to  neglect  the  services  of  the  Russian 
Church  and  the  adoration  of  icons.  He  obtained  a 
Slavonic  Bible,  and  commenced  teaching  those  about  him 
the  pure  truth  concerning  the  worship  of  God  in  spirit 
and  in  truth.  But  in  those  days,  the  account  continues, 
it  was  dangerous  to  say  anything  against  the  Church 
services,  and  Matthew  was  arrested  and  tried.  He  suffered 
a  martyr’s  death,  being  broken  on  the  wheel.  Some  of 
his  followers,  serfs  of  his  master,  returning  home  from 
Moscow  with  the  Bible,  secretly  spread  the  doctrine  of  the 
true  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  They  also 
were  discovered,  tried,  cruelly  knouted,  and  sent  to  convict 
labour  for  life.  But  the  teaching  still  spread  secretly 
among  the  peasants. 

Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not  it  is  impossible  to 
say,  but  it  is  at  least  plausible.  Bashkin  and  Kosdy  had 
prepared  a  soil  suitable  for  such  a  movement.  English 
physicians  certainly  visited  Russia  during  Ivan’s  reign,  and 
there  is  a  passage  in  Horsey’s  Diary  t  indicating  that 

*  Liv&nof,  vol.  i.  pp.  153-5. 

t  Quoted  in  W.  Ii.  Morfill’s  Russia,  fourth  ed.,  p.  194. 


90 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

Englishmen  in  Russia  then  enjoyed  high  esteem  for 
medical  skill.  Ivan  the  Terrible  was  himself  fond  of 
theological  disputes,  both  with  Roman  Catholics  and 
Protestants;  and  though  a  printing  press  was  set  up  in 
Moscow  in  1553,  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
Epistles  were  printed,  44  the  efforts  of  those  who  gained 
their  living  by  copying  manuscripts,  and  the  force  of 
superstitious  prejudice,  triumphed,' ”  and  the  printers  were 
obliged  to  betake  themselves  to  the  dominions  of  the  King 

o  O 

of  Poland.  The  first  Slavonic  Bible  was  printed  at  Ostrbg, 
in  Volhynia,  in  1581.  All  this  fits  in  with  the  Molokan 
tradition  told  above. 

Kosdy,  as  has  been  said,  denied  the  divinity  of  Jesus, 
and  we  shall  see  later  on  how  important  became  the 
question  of  the  comparative  rank  in  sonship  to  God 
claimed  for  Jesus,  as  compared  to  the  rank  claimed  for 
various  leaders  of  different  Russian  sects.  In  this  connec¬ 
tion  it  is  well  to  remember  that  there  existed  in  Poland, 
from  1565  to  1658,  an  Anti  trinitarian  Church.  Faustus 
Socinus  (Fausto  Sozzini)  resided  at  or  near  Cracow  from 
1579  till  his  death  in  1604.  With  no  wish  to  be  a  heresi- 
arch,  he  was  64  a  vindicator  of  human  reason  against  the 
supernatural,” and  from  him  the  Socinians  take  their  name. 
Besides  his  antitrinitarian  views,  he  held  that  war,  and 
all  taking  of  human  life,  was  wrong,  and  that  to  hold 
magisterial  office  is  unlawful  for  a  Christian.  He  had 
great  influence  with  the  Polish  Unitarians — a  numerous 

O 

and  powerful  body  44  distinguished  by  the  rank  of  their 
adherents,  the  ability  and  learning  of  their  scholars,  the 
excellence  of  their  schools,  and  the  superiority  and  wide 
circulation  of  their  theological  literature.”  *  Gradually 
the  Jesuits  obtained  the  ascendency  in  Poland,  and  in 

*  J.  Fred.  Smith,  in  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


91 


1658  all  adherents  of  the  “  Arian  and  Anabaptist  sect1’ 
were  commanded  to  quit  the  kingdom  within  two  years : 
a  dispersion  which  probably  served  to  spread  their  views 
east  as  well  as  west,  though  chiefly,  no  doubt,  westward. 

Transylvania,  which  contains  a  Slavonic  element  in  its 
motley  population,  has  also,  we  must  notice,  been  an 
important  centre  of  Unitarianism,  and  has  possessed  a 
formally  constituted  Unitarian  Church  from  1568  to  the 
present  day. 

Returning  to  Russia,  the  next  prominent  representative 
of  rationalism  we  meet  with  is  Tveritinof,  who  lived  in 
Moscow  in  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great.  He  was  a  doctor, 
and  in  intimate  touch  with  the  German  Calvinists  and 
Protestants,  of  whom  there  were  at  that  time  many  in 
Russia.  The  effect  of  Peter's  reforms,  of  the  favour  he 
showed  to  foreigners,  and  of  his  unceremonious  treatment 
of  old  traditions,  was  to  make  it  possible,  for  a  while,  to 
speak  with  considerable  freedom  on  religious  matters. 
Tveritinof  wras  extremely  sarcastic.  His  practice  as  a 
doctor  brought  him  into  contact  with  people  of  all  classes, 
and  he  appears  to  have  omitted  no  opportunity  of  ridi¬ 
culing  the  superstitions  of  the  Church.  While  adopting 
the  attitude  of  Bashkin  and  Kosby  towards  icons,  prayers 
for  the  dead,  transubstantiation,  and  Church  Councils, 
he  appears  to  have  accepted  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  and  to 
have  taken  the  Bible,  as  read  by  the  Calvinists,  as  the 
rock  on  which  to  base  his  criticism  of  the  Greek  Church. 

What  gave  Tveritinof  importance,  was  not  any 
originality  in  his  opinions,  but  the  fact  that  he  expressed 
his  views  clearly  and  pithily,  and,  living  at  a  time  when 
the  Church,  bitterly  as  it  persecuted  the  Raskblniks,  was 
slow  to  act  against  Protestantism,  he  reached  a  wide 
audience.  He  took  pains  to  circulate  manuscript  booklets 


92 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


containing  the  Scripture  texts  on  which  his  school  based 
their  indictment  of  the  Orthodox  Russo-Greek  Church. 
These  notebooks  carried  his  teaching  far  afield  among  the 
peasants,  and  many  aphorisms  of  his,  as  well  as  many  of  his 
favourite  texts,  are  still  habitually  quoted  among  the 
Molokans. 

God,  he  said,  should  be  worshipped  in  spirit,  but  an 
icon  is  only  a  board  which  burns  if  thrown  into  the  fire. 
He  questioned  the  sanctity  of  many  of  the  saints,  and 
especially  of  St.  Nicholas  the  wonder-worker  (particularly 
revered  in  Russia).  Nicholas,  he  said,  was  only  a  common 
village  peasant,  whom  people  took  to  worshipping  when 
they  had  forgotten  God.  In  general  he  called  in  question 
the  canonization  of  saints,  on  the  ground  that  no  one  has 
conversed  with  God,  or  can  know  saint  from  sinner  till  the 
Day  of  Judgment.  Of  the  dead,  and  of  prayers  for  them, 
Tveritinof  quoted  Paul,  that  “  each  shall  receive  his  own 
reward  according  to  his  own  labour,”  and  added  that 
priests  for  their  own  profit  invented  prayers  for  the  dead. 
He  taught  that  what  is  written  in  the  Bible  should  be 
believed,  but  that  there  is  no  need  to  believe  what  the 
Church  has  added  thereto.  Monasticism  he  called  a  senile 
contrivance.*  His  doctrines  met  with  much  success  among 
the  Streltsi,  whose  dislike  to  Peter  the  Great’s  new  methods 
of  government  helped  to  make  them  restless  and  critical. 

Ultimately  Tveritinof  was  brought  to  account.  The 
last  Council  of  the  Russian  Church  was  held  in  1714,  and 
by  it  he  was  anathematized,  but  escaped  death  by  abjuring 
his  heresies. 

His  cousin,  Thomas  Ivanof,  a  barber,  was  confined  in 
the  Tchoudof  Monastery.  There  he  chopped  to  pieces  a 

*  LivSnof,  vol.  i.,  gives  a  long  account  of  Tveritinof.  See  also 
Heard’s  The  Russian  Church  and  Dissent. 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


93 


sculptured  figure  of  Alexis  (Metropolitan  of  Kief  and  of 
all  Russia,  1348-78),  in  consequence  of  which  conduct  he 
was  burnt  to  death.* 

Whatever  influence  Tveritinof  may  have  had  on  the 
Molokans,  it  is  not  directly  through  him  that  the  line  of 
spiritual  descent  connecting  the  Doukhobdrs  with  the  early 
Christian  sects  must  be  traced.  Tveritinof  represented 
the  school  which  bases  itself  on  the  Bible  :  man  is  free  to 
think,  provided  that  he  thinks  what  is  in  the  Bible,  and 
does  not  think  what  runs  counter  to  the  Bible.f 

*  Novitsky,  Doukhobortsi  ih  Istoriya  i  Verooutchenie.  Kief,  1882. 

t  Few  people  in  those  days  seemed  able  to  go  further  than  that, 
and  to  use  their  reason  and  conscience  freely,  recognizing  no  external 
authority.  When  they  tried  to  do  so,  they  were  (as  people  still  are)  apt 
to  make  one  of  two  opposite  errors.  Either,  underrating  “  the  voice 
within,”  they  became  materialistic,  and  ultimately  irreligious,  or— in 
place  of  the  decrees  of  the  Church,  or  the  revelations  of  Scriptures — 
they  started  revelations  of  their  own  (as  the  Doukhobdrs  ultimately  did), 
founded  not  on  such  plain  workings  of  reason  and  conscience  as  one  man 
may  readily  compare  with  another  (and  as  can  be  checked  in  practice 
and  rectified  by  experience),  but  revelations  that  came  by  visions,  ap¬ 
pealing  to  the  senses  of  the  person  who  supposed  himself  to  be  spiritually 
influenced,  or  were  accepted  on  the  authority  of  some  local  Prophet  or 
Leader. 

To  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  what  occurs  among  ourselves,  let  mo 
mention  a  case  in  which  on  two  successive  days  I  heard  lectures  on  what 
happens  to  the  soul  after  death.  Each  lecture  was  plausible,  definite, 
and  gave  information  that  would  be  interesting  were  it  verifiable.  The 
first  lecture  was  based  on  the  visions  of  Swedenborg;  the  second  was 
Theosophic,  and  based  on  revelations  received  from  the  Mahatmas.  The 
difficulty  in  accepting  either  lecture  was  that,  though  each  was  credible, 
each  contradicted  the  other.  I  remember  asking  Herbert  Burrows 
what,  in  such  a  case,  a  reasonable  man  was  to  do?  His  humorous 
reply  was,  “Well,  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  start  revelations  of  one’s 
own.”  A  more  serious  reply  would  be :  Doubt  all  revelations  addressed 
to  the  senses,  whether  your  own  or  any  one  else’s.  Trust  only  what 
appeals  convincingly  to  your  reason  and  conscience,  and  with  an  ever¬ 
present  sense  of  your  own  fallibility,  be  careful  to  confine  your  religious 
assertions  to  what  is  necessary  and  sufficient,  well  authenticated  and 
verifiable.  Tolstoy  once  summed  the  matter  up  well,  when  he  said  that 


94 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


The  Doukhobors,  on  the  other  hand,  at  least  in  theory, 
reject  all  external  authorities,  including  the  Bible ;  or  use 
them  merely  as  aids,  and  not  as  authorities. 

We  may  notice,  in  passing,  a  Silesian  named  Kullman, 
who  was  an  ardent  follower  of  the  mystic,  Jacob  Bohme, 
and  who  with  a  friend  named  Norderman  approached  the 
Patriarch  for  permission  to  print  a  book  expounding  his 
views.  He  thus  brought  his  work  under  the  notice  of  the 
authorities,  with  the  result  that  he  and  his  friend  were 
burnt  to  death,  in  Moscow,  in  1689. 

In  tracing  the  origin  of  ideas  adopted  by  the  Doukho- 
bdrs,  we  may  deal  very  briefly  with  the  great  schism,  the 
Raskdl,  which  followed  the  Patriarch  Nikon’s  reforms  in 
1654 ;  for  this  dispute  turned,  at  first,  merely  on  points 
of  ritual,  and  was,  at  its  inception,  a  squabble  among 
priests  and  monks,  which  neither  interested  nor  moved 
the  people.  How  the  name  Jesus  should  be  spelt ;  what 
shape  the  cross  should  have ;  whether  two  or  three  fingers 
should  be  extended  in  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
whether  “  Halleluiah  ”  should  be  sung  twice  or  three 
times,  were  the  matters  in  contention.  The  older  tradi¬ 
tions  of  the  Greek  Church  were  on  Nikon’s  side,  and  the 
practices  in  defence  of  which  the  Raskdlniks  seceded,  had 
crept  into  the  Russian  Church  by  mere  accident  and  laxity. 
But  when  the  upholders  of  the  old,  uncorrected  missals 
and  of  the  double  Halleluiahs  were  anathematized  by  the 
Council  of  the  Church  (1666-67) :  “  Their  souls,  in  virtue 
of  the  power  given  to  the  Church  by  Jesus  Christ,  to  be 

if  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  room  and  began  to  talk  to  him,  he  would 
ask  to  be  taken  to  the  lunatic  asylum — so  much  does  the  probability  of 
any  man’s  senses  deceiving  him  exceed  the  probability  of  such  an  appari¬ 
tion  being  genuine.  Questioning  all  external  authorities,  Tolstoy  refuses 
to  accept  as  authoritative  the  revelations  of  the  mystics  any  more  than  he 
accepts  the  decrees  of  the  Churches. 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


05 


given  up  to  eternal  torments,  together  with  the  souls  of 
the  traitor  Judas  and  of  the  Jews  by  whom  Jesus  Christ 
was  crucified,’1  the  Raskblniks  found  a  firm  standing-ground 
against  their  opponents.  For  if  the  opinions  they  held  on 
these  matters  deserved  eternal  damnation,  what  about  the 
Saints,  Patriarchs,  and  Tsars  of  former  generations  who 
had  believed  as  they  did,  and  crossed  themselves  as  they 
did ?  “  If,”  said  they,  “you  anathematize  us,  you  anathe¬ 

matize  also  your  own  forefathers  and  all  the  holy  men  of 
the  past.” 

This  was  just  one  of  those  clear,  strong  points,  capable 
of  being  pithily  and  caustically  put,  so  dear  to  the  souls 
of  Russian  sectarians.  Yet  for  sixteen  years  the  Raskdl 
made  but  little  headway  with  the  people,  and  the  Raskbl¬ 
niks  ventured  only  to  plead  for  toleration.  The  Tsarevna 
Sophia,  however,  who  was  then  ruling  during  the  minority 
of  Peter  the  Great,  persecuted  them  with  incredible 
cruelty  and  ferocity.  The  Raskblniks  were  to  be  extermi¬ 
nated.  The  officials  reported  those  who  did  not  attend 
Mass,  or  showed  other  signs  of  unorthodoxy.  These  were 
arrested,  put  to  the  torture,  and  questioned  as  to  who 
had  perverted  them  and  who  were  their  co-believers. 
Those  whose  names  were  mentioned  at  these  inquiries  were 
in  their  turn  tortured,  and  other  names  extracted  from 
them.  Stubborn,  impenitent  Raskblniks  were  burnt  alive. 
Those  who  recanted  were  beaten  with  the  knout  and 
released.  If  they  relapsed,  no  mercy  was  shown  them  a 
second  time ;  and  one  section  of  extreme  Raskblniks  were 
burnt,  whether  they  recanted  or  not. 

Never  has  the  stubborn  obstinacy  of  the  Russian 
nature  been  more  dramatically  displayed  than  in  with¬ 
standing  this  persecution.  The  Raskblniks  would  not 
yield.  They  fled  from  the  capital,  spreading  out  in  all 


96 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


directions,  establishing  colonies  in  the  most  distant  parts 
of  the  Empire :  in  the  frozen  north,  across  the  Ural 
Mountains,  and  even  beyond  the  borders  of  Russia. 

By  ferocious  ukases,  in  1687  and  1689,  the  Govern¬ 
ment  undertook  the  task  of  hunting  them  down.  Armed 
bodies  of  men  were  despatched  44  that  their  refuges  may 
be  discovered  and  destroyed,  and  their  property  confis¬ 
cated,  and  every  man,  woman,  and  child  apprehended, 
in  order  that  their  abominable  heresy  may  be  exter¬ 
minated  without  any  chance  of  revival/1  In  1693  these 
instructions,  which  had  been  issued  to  the  authorities  of 
all  the  northern  regions,  were  strengthened  by  a  further 
injunction,  that  all  the  Raskdlniks1  buildings  and  property 
should  be  burnt  to  the  ground,  44  that  their  associates  may 
nowhere  find  any  refuge.11 

This  policy  was  continued  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
far  into  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great.  English  readers 
in  search  of  a  brief  account,  can  find  a  good  one  in 
the  chapters  on  44  The  Raskol 11  in  Stepniak's  book,  The 
Russian  Peasantry .  For  our  purpose  let  it  suffice  to 
give  a  single  incident  showing  the  stuff  of  which  these 
Russian  sectarians  are  made.  One  forgets  the  triviality 
of  the  questions  in  which  the  dispute  originated,  in  con¬ 
templating  the  awful  tragedy  to  which  it  led  up  when 
once  the  fanaticism  of  the  people  had  been  fully  aroused. 

44  The  torpor  of  the  people  was  broken.  The  im¬ 
pudent  appeal  to  brute  force  in  matters  of  such  delicacy, 
and  so  dear  to  men's  souls,  began  to  produce  its  wonted 
effect.  The  masses  began  to  stir;  the  unprecedented 
persecution  of  men  and  women  of  unquestioned  morality, 
who  met  their  trials  with  such  fortitude,  began  to  tell 
even  on  the  wooden  nerves  of  their  contemporaries.  The 
two  fingers — the  emblem  of  the  Raskdlnik's  cross  and 


97 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 

creed — shown  to  the  awestruck  crowd  from  amongst  the 
flames  of  the  stake,  produced  a  stronger  effect  than  the 
preaching  of  any  number  of  Raskdlniks  could  have  done.” 

N.  Kostomarof,  the  historian,  describes  the  following 
characteristic  scene : — 

“  It  was  in  Tumen,  a  town  in  Western  Siberia ;  time, 
Sunday  morning.  The  priests  were  celebrating  the  mass 
in  the  cathedral  on  the  lines  of  the  new  missals,  as  usual. 
The  congregation  was  listening  calmly  to  the  service, 
when,  at  the  moment  of  the  solemn  appearance  of  the 
consecrated  wafer,  a  female  voice  shouted,  4  Orthodox  ! 
do  not  bow !  They  carry  a  dead  body  ;  the  wafer  is 
stamped  with  the  unholy  cross,  the  seal  of  Antichrist.’ 

“The  speaker  who  thus  interrupted  the  service  was 
a  female  Raskolnik,  accompanied  by  a  male  co-religionist 
of  hers.  The  man  and  woman  were  seized,  knouted  in 
the  public  square,  and  thrown  into  prison.  But  their 
act  produced  its  effect.  When  another  Raskolnik,  the 
monk  Danilo,  appeared,  shortly  after,  on  the  same  spot 
and  began  to  preach,  an  excited  crowd  at  once  gathered 
around  him.  His  words  affected  his  audience  so  deeply 
that  girls  and  old  women  began  to  see  the  skies  open 
above  them,  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  with  the  angels,  holding 
a  crown  of  glory  over  those  who  refused  to  pray  as  they 
were  ordered  to  by  the  authorities.  Danilo  persuaded 
them  to  flee  into  the  wilderness  for  the  sake  of  the  true 
faith.  Three  hundred  people,  both  men  and  women, 
joined  him,  but  a  strong  body  of  armed  men  was  sent  in 
pursuit.  They  could  not  escape,  and  Danilo  seized  the 
moment  to  preach  to  them,  and  persuade  them  that  the 
hour  had  come  for  all  of  them  to  receive  the  baptism  of 
fire.  By  this,  he  meant  they  were  to  burn  themselves 
alive.  They  accordingly  locked  themselves  up  in  a  big 


li 


98 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


wooden  shed,  set  fire  to  it,  and  perished  in  the  fiames — all 
the  three  hundred  with  their  leader.” 

As  Stepniak  says,  “  Every  Raskolnik,  who  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Orthodox,  was  doomed  to  the  stake 
unless  he  abjured  his  faith.  Religious  ideas  were  blent 
together  with  the  impulses  of  manly  courage.  Death  at 
the  stake  was  the  baptism  by  fire  which  Christ  bestowed 
on  the  faithful ;  it  was  the  Prophet's  chariot  of  fire, 
which  was  to  carry  their  souls  straight  to  heaven.  Over¬ 
flowing  religious  exaltation  created  a  yearning  after 
martyrdom.” 

Sapdshnikof,  who  made  a  special  study  of  the  matter, 
reckons  up  117  cases  of  collective  suicide  by  fire,  and 
brings  the  number  of  victims,  between  the  years  1667 
and  1700,  to  the  appalling  total  of  8,834.  The  number 
of  those  who  perished  on  the  scaffold,  in  the  torture- 
chamber,  or  in  prison,  must  have  been  still  greater. 

The  effect  of  it  all  was,  that  the  Raskolniks  increased 
and  multiplied,  and  at  the  present  day  are  estimated  to 
number  from  12,000,000  to  15,000,000  people.  We  shall 
meet,  in  the  history  of  the  Doukhobors,  with  a  similar 
tenacity  of  purpose  and  a  similar  readiness  to  sacrifice 
themselves. 

About  this  time  we  hear  of  Danelo  Filipovitch,  a 
peasant  of  the  Province  of  Kostroma,  said  to  be  a  deserter 
from  the  army,  and  a  man  of  great  piety.  He  spent  many 
years  in  a  cave  near  the  Volga,  praying  and  studying  the 
Scriptures  and  the  Church  liturgies,  both  in  the  old  version 
and  in  the  revised  version  introduced  by  Nikon  (b.  1605, 
d.  1681),  from  whose  reforms  resulted  the  great  secession 
of  the  Old  Believers  or  Raskolniks  of  which  we  have  just 
spoken. 

After  long  pondering  over  the  old  and  new  books, 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


99 


Danelo  Filipovitch  put  them  all  into  a  sack  and  pitched 
them  into  the  river,  saying  that  they  were  perplexing,  and 
that  the  real  source  of  truth  was  to  be  found  in — 

“  The  golden  book, 

The  living  book, 

The  book  of  the  dove, 

The  Lord  Himself,  The  Holy  Spirit.”  * 

The  Doukhobdrs  still  use  this  expression,  44  The  Living 
Book,”  but  they  now  apply  it  to  the  unwritten  collection 
of  “  psalms  ”  recited  by  them  at  their  services,  preserved  in 
their  memories  but  not  written  down  in  any  book. 

Ultimately  Danelo  Filipovitch  proclaimed  himself  to 
be  God,  and  gave  twelve  commandments  to  his  followers, 
the  sixth  of  which  says — 

“  Do  not  marry,  and,  if  married, 

Live  with  wife  as  with  a  sister. 

If  unmarried  do  not  marry, 

And  if  married  cease  therefrom.” 

He  nominated  Ivan  Soiislof  to  be  his  son,  Christ.  Soiislof 
lived  with  a  woman  whom  he  called  the  44  Mother-of-God  ” 
and  the  44  Daughter-of-God.”  He  chose  twelve  Apostles 
from  among  his  adherents,  and  went  with  them  along  the 
banks  of  the  Oka  and  the  Volga,  spreading  his  doctrine. 
He  collected  his  disciples  in  a  decrepit  and  empty  church 
in  the  village  of  Rabotniki  on  the  Volga,  and  was  there 
worshipped  by  them.  Soiislof  died  in  Moscow  in  1716, 
having  handed  on  his  authority  to  Loupkin.f 

Among  the  adherents  of  the  new  sect  were  monks,  and 
at  least  one  nun.  Loiipkin  acknowledged  his  wife  to  be  a 
44  Mother-of-God,”  and  gathering  twenty  Apostles,  spread 

*  Roussky  V&stnik,  July  1868. 

t  Liv&uof  (1872),  vol.  i.  p.  173.  Stepuiak,  in  The  Russian  Peasantry , 
1894,  p.  437. 


100 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


his  teaching  in  the  Governments  of  Nizhni-Novgorod, 
Vladimir,  and  Yaroslaf.  In  1716  he  and  his  Apostles 
were  arrested  at  Ouglitch,  but  he  appears  to  have  been 
released,  and  to  have  lived  in  Moscow  till  1732. 

These  mystics  bound  themselves  by  oaths  not  to 
betray  one  another  or  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  their  sect. 
Seeking  to  obtain  inspiration  in  their  religious  meetings, 
they  twirled  round,  waved  their  arms  “  as  angels  wave 
their  wings,”  and  beat  themselves  with  sticks.  They 
quoted  2  Cor.  vi.  16,  as  having  special  application  to 
themselves ;  44  We  are  a  temple  of  the  living  God  ;  even 
as  God  said,  I  will  dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in  them,  and 
I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people.” 

They  obtained  many  converts,  including  Docifius, 
Bishop  of  Rostdf.  After  being  deprived  of  his  bishopric, 
he  was  tortured  and  executed,  in  the  presence  of  Peter  the 
Great,  on  the  Red  Place  in  Moscow,  having  his  stomach 
torn  to  pieces  with  pincers.  One  hundred  and  sixteen 
sectarians  were  flogged  with  the  knout  and  sent  to  various 
parts  of  Siberia,  and  one  prophetess  and  two  prophets 
among  them  were  executed. 

From  Danelo  Filipovitch  a  sect  arose  who  called  them¬ 
selves  the  Christs,  but  who  are  nicknamed  the  Hlists 
(whips).  Many  of  them  are  of  Finnish  origin,  and  the 
old  tribal  customs  of  communism,  not  in  goods  only,  but 
also  in  women,  may  help  to  explain  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  peculiarities  of  the  sect.  The  sex  question 
plays  a  very  prominent  part  in  their  religion,  but  every 
phase  of  opinion,  from  the  advocacy  of  complete  chastity 
and  celibacy  to  the  practice  of  promiscuous  debauchery 
as  part  of  their  religious  services,  may  be  met  with  among 
the  subdivisions  of  the  sect.  The  branch  called  the 
Skoptsi  submit  to  castration— and  go  even  to  greater 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


101 


lengths  of  physical  mutilation  than  that — in  their  eager¬ 
ness  to  escape  from  sexual  desire.  The  women  often  have 
part  of  their  breasts  cut  away.  The  religious  services  of 
the  Hlists  largely  consist  in  invoking  the  Deity  to  come 
down  and  inspire  them.  To  bring  this  to  pass,  they 
inflame  their  emotions  by  stamping  and  jumping,  often 
in  scanty  attire,  by  whipping  themselves,  and  by  shout¬ 
ing.  All  this  sometimes  leads  up  to  an  orgy  of  promis¬ 
cuous  intercourse  at  the  close  of  the  religious  gathering. 

It  is  common  in  the  sect  to  look  upon  monogamous 
marriage  as  a  selfish  and  wicked  monopolization,*  and  to 
consider  marital  relations  as  filthy  and  disgusting,  while 
casual  sexual  intercourse  is  regarded  with  tolerance  or 
even  with  approval.  “Married  life  is  impurity  before 
men  and  impiety  before  God,1,1  is  one  of  their  sayings. 

We  need  not  here  discuss  this  extraordinary  sect  at 
greater  length.  Let  it  suffice  to  note  it  as  an  example 
of  the  lack  of  moderation  and  readiness  to  go  all  lengths, 
which  is  so  often  met  with  among  Russians. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  we  first 
hear  of  the  Quakers  in  Russia.  In  1743  an  edict  was  issued 
against  their  doctrine,  and  in  1745  six  hundred  followers  of 
the  sect  were  discovered.  They  never  appear  to  have  been 
numerous  in  Russia.  The  points  in  which  their  influence 
must  have  tended  to  strengthen  the  currents  which  led  to 
the  formation  of  Doukhobdrism  are  :  their  attention  to 
the  “inward  voice their  rejection  of  Church  ceremonies 
and  instrumental  music  ;  their  disapproval  of  oaths  and  of 
war  ;  and,  lastly,  the  independent  attitude  towards  the 
“  powers  that  be,”  exemplified  by  their  refusal  to  take  off 
their  hats  even  to  magistrates  or  kings.  There  are  many 
cases  on  record  in  which  Doukhobors  have,  in  like  manner, 
*  Dr.  P.  Jacoby,  Vettnik  Europy ,  Oct.  and  Nov.,  1903. 


102 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


refused  to  remove  their  hats  when  brought  before  officials, 
magistrates,  and  governors. 

I  can  find  no  sufficient  justification  for  the  assertion, 
often  made,  that  the  Doukhobdr  sect  was  founded  by  a 
Quaker,  though  at  first  sight  this  opinion  gains  some 
probability  from  the  close  resemblance  between  many  of 
the  opinions  held  by  the  Doukhobdrs  and  those  taught 
by  the  early  Quakers. 

By  early  Quaker  and  by  Doukhobdr  alike,  Christ  was 
identified  with  the  “  inward  voice,”  and  with  the  capacity 
to  see  a  moral  issue  clearly  and  feel  sure  of  what  is  right. 
Neither  primitive  Quaker  nor  Doukhobdr  rejected  the 
Christ  executed  in  Judea  many  centuries  ago,  but  to 
neither  of  them  was  his  life  and  death  of  as  much  import¬ 
ance  as  “  the  Christ  within.”  The  early  Quakers  gave  a 
second  place  to  the  Bible ;  the  Doukhobors,  most  of  whom 
were  quite  illiterate,  hardly  attached  importance  to  it, 
except  indeed  to  those  portions  which  had  passed  into 
the  Chants  or  “  Psalms  ”  they  learnt  by  heart  and  used  at 
their  meetings. 

Had  the  u  inward  voice  ”  been  an  invention  of  George 
Fox’s,  and  were  it  quite  exceptional  for  men  to  think  with 
their  own  heads  and  be  guided  by  their  own  consciences, 
the  conclusion  that  the  Doukhobdrs  sprang  from  a  Quaker 
origin  would  be  almost  irresistible.  But  the  fact  is  that 
in  all  ages  and  countries  there  have  been  men  who  knew 
that  we  can,  in  reality,  believe  nothing  but  what  we  see 
and  feel  to  be  true,  and  that  any  books  or  men  or 
churches  we  may  take  as  authorities  are  (unless  geography 
decides  the  matter),  after  all,  only  selected  as  authorities 
by  us. 

The  fundamental  truth  that  George  Fox  expressed 
incisively  and  powerfully,  has  been  operating  since  before 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


103 


the  days  when  prophets  and  priests  resisted  each  other's 
influence  in  Jerusalem.  Its  workings  may  be  traced  more 
frequently  and  strongly  among  the  heretical,  dissenting, 
and  reforming  bodies  than  within  the  established  churches, 
but  nowhere  has  it  ever  been  quite  inoperative. 

The  story  that  the  Doukhobbr  sect  was  founded  by  a 
Quaker  becomes  more  indefinite  the  farther  we  trace  it  back. 
Novitsky  merely  mentions  a  man,  said  to  be  a  retired  non¬ 
commissioned  Prussian  officer,  who  lived  and  taught  in  a 
village  of  the  Kharkof  Government  about  the  year  1740, 
and  adds  :  “  It  was  thought  that  this  foreigner  was  a 
Quaker,  because  his  manner  of  life  and  the  rules  he 
preached  were  quite  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Quaker  teaching." 

The  only  ascertainable  personal  connection  between  the 
Doukhobdrs  and  the  Quakers  before  the  recent  persecution, 
amounts  to  no  more  than  the  fact  that  English  Quakers 
have  more  than  once,  during  the  last  century,  visited  the 
Doukhobdrs,  without  sharing  all  their  views ;  for  among 
most  modern  Quakers  the  Bible,  the  Atonement,  and  the 
“  Scheme  of  Redemption  "  occupy  a  prominent  place,  while 
the  Doukhobdrs  attach  but  slight  importance  to  the  Bible 
as  a  book,  and,  for  the  most  part,  never  heard  of  the 
“  Scheme  of  Redemption,"  which  they  would  consider 
immoral  were  it  narrated  to  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Quakers  have  never  allowed  to 
any  of  their  members  such  authority  as  it  has  been  a  con¬ 
spicuous  part  of  the  Doukhobbr  polity  to  accord  to  their 
Leaders.  The  worst  excesses  of  James  Naylor,  who,  in  the 
early  days  of  Quakerism,  allowed  certain  followers  to  accord 
to  him  divine  honours,  are  said  to  have  been  more  than 
paralleled  in  the  past  history  of  the  Doukhobdrs.  Even  in 
our  own  day  those  who  have  tried  to  fathom  the  question 


104 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


of  the  Doukhobor  Leadership  have  found  themselves 
baffled,  or  have  had  to  form  their  own  guess. 

Were  Peter  Verigin’s  claims  to  the  Leadership  hered¬ 
itary  or  not  ?  How  was  he  selected  ?  And  what  are 
the  limits  of  his  authority  ?  No  one  who  really  knows 
seems  inclined  to  answer  these  questions  explicitly. 

That  a  small  sect,  frequently  persecuted  and  exposed 
to  many  dangers,  should  need  a  strong  Leader  vested  with 
extraordinary  authority  was  natural  enough.  The  puzzle 
is,  how  they  select  their  Leaders. 

It  was  in  the  eighteenth  century  that  anti-ecclesiastical 
and  rationalistic  opinions  which  had  long  existed,  crystal¬ 
lized  definitely  into  the  sects  of  the  Molokans  and  Doukho- 
bors,  whose  names  now  begin  to  appear  in  history.  The  time 
was  suitable  for  the  event.  With  few  exceptions,  neither 
the  priests  nor  the  laityr  of  the  Russian  Church  paid  much 
attention  to  its  teachings,  and  its  condition  was  almost 
incredibly  bad.  The  priests  were  often  so  ignorant  that 
they  could  not  read  the  service;  very  many  parishes  had 
no  priest  at  all,  and  where  there  was  one,  he  was  often  a 
drunkard  of  notoriously  immoral  life.  From  the  time  of 
Peter  the  Great  onwards,  the  influx  of  foreigners  and  the 
Court  favour  enjoyed  by  them,  tended  to  the  debasement 
of  the  Russian  Church.  Especially  was  this  the  case  in 
the  reign  of  Anne.  Biron,  her  favourite,  as  well  as  the 
other  foreign  adventurers,  Miinnich  and  Osterman,  sup¬ 
ported  Lutheranism,  and  did  not  allow  the  Russian 
Church  to  attack  it.  The  contrast  between  the  ferocious 
persecutions  of  the  Raskdlniks  at  the  end  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  and  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  centuries, 
and  the  neglect  and  humiliation  of  the  Orthodox  Church 
in  1730-1740,  is  very  remarkable.  Bishops,  priests, 
and  monks  who  offended  the  German  favourites,  were 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


105 


disfrocked,  punished,  and  tortured.  Of  the  more  than 
twenty  thousand  people  Biron  sent  to  Siberia,  many 
were  monks  and  priests.  Stephen  Yavbrsky,  President 
of  the  Holy  Synod,  wrote  a  book,  The  Rock  of  Faith , 
directed  against  Lutheranism,  Calvinism,  and  the  ration¬ 
alism  they  helped  to  spread.  The  book  met  with  success. 
It  reached  its  third  edition  in  1730 ;  but  at  Biron’s 
instigation  its  republication  was  then  prohibited.  No 
more  Church  Councils  were  summoned  to  condemn 
heretics.  There  was  little  encouragement  to  the  Orthodox 
to  persecute  their  opponents  when,  for  instance,  a 
Metropolitan  of  Kief,  for  the  offence  of  republishing 
The  Rock  of  Faith  without  permission,  was  deprived  of 
his  rank,  and  sent  to  the  Byelo  Lake  Monastery ;  and 
Theophylact,  another  ecclesiastic,  was  arrested  for  no 
particular  cause,  strictly  examined,  three  times  stripped 
and  beaten  with  rods,  disfrocked  as  a  monk,  deprived  of 
his  dignities,  and  finally  imprisoned  in  the  Petropavlovsk 
fortress.  To  further  degrade  the  priesthood  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people,  Biron,  in  1736,  obtained  a  decree  obliging 
the  sons  of  priests,  as  well  as  various  servants  of  the 
Church,  to  enter  the  army.  There  were  6,557  such 
recruits  in  1737. 

We  have  now  reached  the  commencement  of  the 
Doukhobdr  sect;  though  it  would  be  impossible  to  give 
an  exact  date  when  it  appeared,  or  to  draw  a  line 
between  the  fluctuating  currents  of  opinion  which  flowed 
together  to  form  the  sect,  and  the  doctrines  of  the  sect 
itself. 

The  persecutions  in  Moscow,  and  wherever  the  Govern¬ 
ment  was  strongest,  had  driven  those  most  dissatisfied 
with  Church  or  State  to  the  less  settled  and  less  governed 
outskirts  of  the  Empire  :  districts  which,  though  Russian, 


106 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

were  still  a  borderland  where  the  population  was  subject 
to  little  supervision,  and  could,  at  a  pinch,  escape  to 
foreign  territory. 

In  those  days,  also,  the  Government  deported  sec¬ 
tarians  to  the  Ukraine  (or  Borderland),  as  it  now  deports 
them  to  the  Caucasus.  Here,  too,  lived  the  Cossacks 
and  many  others  who  were  hostile  to  the  methods  Peter  I. 
had  introduced. 

These  were  the  times  when  serfdom  was  being 
enforced  in  its  worst  form.  Its  evils  were  almost 
beyond  exaggeration.  The  wives  and  daughters  of  the 
serfs  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  proprietors.  Runaways 
were  sometimes  drowned,  or  otherwise  done  away  with, 
simply  to  save  the  trouble  of  restoring  them  to  their 
owners ;  sometimes  they  were  presented  as  a  gift,  or  as  a 
bribe,  to  an  official.  The  general  disorder  baffles  de¬ 
scription.  Monks  in  the  monasteries  entered  into  league 
with  brigands,  as  also  did  priests.  The  highest  officials 
were  occupied  with  a  series  of  palace  revolutions ;  and 
the  whole  policy  of  Russia  turned,  at  times,  on  the 
amatory  intrigues  of  people  among  whom  Catherine  the 
Great  stood  out  as  an  exception  rather  by  her  ability 
than  by  her  unblushing  profligacy. 

The  Doukhobdrs,  as  they  come  under  our  observation 
at  this  period  of  history,  recognized  man’s  moral  responsi¬ 
bility,  and  knew  that,  to  live  rationally,  he  must  use  those 
faculties  which  enable  him  to  distinguish  right  from  wrong, 
and  they  accepted  the  implication  of  that  recognition  : 
that  if  right  differs  from  wrong,  and  if  morality  is 
important,  there  must  be  some  ultimate  Source  and 
Origin  causing  these  things  to  be  so. 

The  reaction  resulting  from  the  over-assertions  of 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORISM 


107 


the  Churches  have  often  resulted  in  Secularism  or  in 
Materialism  :  a  state  of  mind  inclined  to  deal  only  with 
what  can  be  verified  by  the  senses,  and  which  tries  to 
deduce  morality  from  physical  science,  or  from  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  past.  The  weakness  here  is,  that  finding  no 
sufficient  basis  for  morality,  yet  conscious  that  morality  is 
necessary,  men  adopting  such  a  position  have  to  accept  a 
morality  not  properly  belonging  to  their  system  of  intel¬ 
lectual  beliefs.  Morality  is  logically  out  of  place  in  their 
creed  ;  for  the  true  basis  of  morality,  as  of  religion,  lies  in 
the  recognition  of  our  moral  consciousness  as  an  ultimate 
fact  of  our  nature ,  coequally  valid  with  our  physical  per¬ 
ceptions  ;  though,  like  them,  it  reveals  not  the  whole  truth, 
but  only  such  portion  of  truth  as  is  necessary  to  enable 
man  to  exist  and  to  progress. 

The  Doukhobors,  as  we  find  them  at  their  first  appear¬ 
ance  in  the  eighteenth  century,  in  spite  of  their  violent 
reaction  against  the  Churches,  had  nothing  of  the  materialist 
spirit  in  them.  They  based  their  knowledge  of  the  moral 
universe  on  the  evidence  of  “  the  voice  within,”  just  as  they 
based  their  knowledge  of  the  physical  universe  on  the 
evidence  of  their  five  senses. 

What  distinguished  them  from  other  sects  was  their 
strong  tendency  to  reject  all  external  authorities.  The 
ultimate  authority  in  all  matters  of  Church  or  State  was, 
to  them,  the  “  voice  within  ” :  the  working  of  each  man's 
own  reason  and  conscience.  That,  at  least,  was  the  theory. 
In  practice,  no  doubt,  from  the  very  first,  men  of  strong 
intellect  dominated  the  weaker  brethren. 

In  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Sylvan  Kolesnikof  (whose 
activity  as  a  religious  teacher  among  the  Doukhobors  of 
the  Government  of  Ekaterinoslaf  dates  from  about  1750 
to  about  1775)  the  doctrines  of  the  sect  seem  to  have  been 


108 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


at  their  best.  By  a  long  process  of  bold  criticism,  in  the 
course  of  which  many  men  suffered  martyrdom,  the  result 
had  been  reached  that  no  external  authority :  Church, 
State,  Priest,  Tsar,  Tradition,  or  Bible,  can  be  trusted  to 
supply  pure  truth.  At  the  same  time  there  was  among 
them,  no  doubt,  much  confusion,  vagueness,  superstition 
and  error,  and  much  acceptance,  as  though  it  were  fully 
proven,  of  what  was  only  plausible.  It  is  so  in  all  move¬ 
ments,  and  it  was  necessarily  so  in  an  eighteenth  century 
Russian  peasant  movement,  in  which  the  mentally  powerful 
leaders  had  no  one  to  check  them,  and  where  there  must 
often  have  been  a  great  intellectual  gap  between  leaders 
and  followers.  Speaking  broadly  —  and  admitting  the 
scanty  and  fragmentary  character  of  the  evidence  —  I 
think  the  main  characteristics  of  the  movement  can  be 
shown  to  have  been :  (1)  A  reliance  on  the  workings  of 
each  man’s  own  reason  and  conscience,  as  putting  him  in 
communication  with  the  source  of  all  religion  and  morality, 
and  (2)  a  strongly  critical  and  negative  attitude  towards 
all  existing  institutions  that  claimed  authority  over  man’s 
religion  and  conduct. 

No  mention  has  been  made  in  this  chapter  of  the 
Mennonites  and  other  kindred  sects ;  or  of  the  Fifth- 
Monarchy  men,  the  Levellers,  and  many  other  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  democratic  religion  in  our  own  history,  but 
enough  has,  I  hope,  been  said  to  show  that  the  Doukho- 
bdrs  present  no  isolated  phenomenon,  but  belong  to  a 
persistent,  ever-recurring  stream  of  thought  and  feeling, 
which  may  be  traced  back  for  centuries,  and  which, 
we  may  be  sure,  in  spite  of  all  the  errors,  exaggera¬ 
tions,  and  perversions  that  have  accompanied  it,  will 
continue  to  exert  an  influence  as  long  as  independence  of 
thought  is  valued,  the  usurpation  of  authority  resented, 


SOURCES  OF  DOUKHOBORXSM 


109 


or  freedom,  equality  and  brotherhood  are  desired  among 
men. 

Some  one  has  said  that  there  are  but  two  religions  in 
the  world :  Roman  Catholicism  and  Quakerism.  Indeed, 
it  is  true  that  these  represent  permanent  tendencies  in 
human  nature,  and  all  religions  tend  in  the  one  direction 
or  the  other.  Each  type  has  its  own  advantage  and  its 
defect.  The  one,  recognizing  an  external  authority  as 
supreme,  can  more  easily  get  men  of  different  minds  to 
keep  step  and  use  the  same  formularies ;  and  it  can,  there¬ 
fore,  obtain  greater  visible  results.  It  is  easier  to  collect 
and  drill  a  million  Roman  Catholics  than  a  thousand 
Quakers.  The  drawback  of  Roman  Catholicism  is  that  its 
adherents  think  within  a  cage.  They  may  use  their  minds 
up  to  the  point  at  which  they  strike  against  the  decrees  of 
the  infallible  Church,  but  no  further. 

The  advantage  of  the  Quaker  position,  at  its  freest  and 
its  best,  is  that  man  may  use  his  powers  of  thought  and 
conscience  to  their  utmost  extent ;  and  a  man  endowed 
with  capacity  to  discern  a  truth  no  one  else  yet  has  formu¬ 
lated,  is  free  to  utter  it,  unshackled  by  what  his  predecessors 
may  have  said.  The  disadvantage  of  the  position  is,  that 
he  has  no  royal  mint  to  go  to,  where  his  ingots  of  truth 
may  be  stamped  to  pass  current  among  the  mass  of  men 
as  readily  as  the  well-worn  coins  of  the  ancient  Church. 

The  Doukhobors,  when  we  first  hear  anything  of  them, 
belong  to  the  Quaker  type  of  religion,  but, — and  this  is 
remarkable  in  their  history, — they  show  how  extremes 
meet ;  for,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  a  considerable  group 
of  them  slipped  over  from  the  extremest  form  of  democratic 
to  the  extremest  form  of  autocratic  religion,  and  did  this 
unconsciously,  and  with  hardly  a  protest  of  which  any  record 
has  come  down  to  us. 


110 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Such  an  event :  that  in  a  couple  of  years  an  entire 
group  passes  apparently  from  the  extreme  of  spiritual 
independence  to  the  extreme  of  spiritual  submission,  shows 
how  far  the  tenets  professed  by  a  sect  often  are  from  per¬ 
meating  their  minds ;  and  how  difficult,  delicate,  and 
complex  a  problem  we  have  before  us  when  we  try  to 
understand  a  religion  not  our  own. 

For  a  Chronological  Summary  of  events  mentioned  in  Chapters  III. 
and  IV.,  see  Appendix  III. 


CHAPTER  IV 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 

In  the  Ukraine,  in  what  is  now  the  Government  of  Khar- 
kof,  at  the  village  of  Ohotch,  in  the  last  years  of  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  there  lived  (so  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  related  when  their  sect  was  discovered  by  the 
authorities  later  in  the  century)  a  foreigner,  by  some 
accounts  a  Prussian  non-commissioned  officer  (but  said  also 
to  have  been  a  Quaker),  who  acted  among  them  as  adviser 
and  instructor.  *  He  settled  their  disputes,  co-operated  in 
their  work,  and  was  as  a  judge  and  friend  among  them. 
He  had  no  fixed  place  of  residence,  but  moved  from  house 
to  house  till  his  death.  He  taught  that  “  Governments 
are  unnecessary,  all  men  are  equal,  the  hierarchy  and  the 
priesthood  are  a  human  invention,  the  Church  and  its 
ceremonies  are  superfluous,  monasticism  is  a  perversion  of 
human  nature,  the  conspiracy  of  the  proprietors  is  a  dis¬ 
grace  to  mankind,  and  the  Tsar  and  Archbishops  are  just 
like  other  people.”  f  A  teaching  of  this  kind  could 
hardly  fail  to  find  followers  at  such  a  time  and  place. 
There  is  every  reason  to  consider  this  anonymous  leader 
to  have  been  a  man  of  high  character,  who  was  devoted 
to  the  service  of  his  fellows. 

*  Liv&nof,  vol.  i.,  p.  343.  See  also  Novitsky. 

f  One  finds  a  similar  opposition  to  established  authorities,  and  a 
similar  assertion  of  the  equality  of  all  men,  in  Tolstoy’s  writings  to-day  : 


112 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


The  injustice  of  serfdom  provoked  the  assertion  of  the 
natural  equality  of  man.  The  hardship  of  the  cruel 
military  service,  to  which  men  were  sent  for  twenty-five 
years,  gave  additional  force  to  the  announcement  that 
war  and  oaths  of  allegiance  are  wrong.  The  corruption, 
the  exactions,  and  the  ignorant  stupidity  of  the  officials, 
provoked  the  doctrine  that  the  sons  of  God  need  no  rule 
but  His.  These  doctrines  this  anonymous  leader  pro¬ 
claimed,  and  around  him  the  nucleus  of  the  Doukhobbr 
sect  formed  itself. 

take,  for  instance,  the  following  passage  from  Chapter  YI.  of  What  is 
Art  ?  Speaking  of  the  men  of  the  Middle  Ages  he  says — 

“That  Christian  teaching  which  they  professed  in  a  perverted  form 
as  Church  doctrine,  had  mapped  out  the  path  of  human  progress  so  far 
ahead,  that  they  had  but  to  rid  themselves  of  those  perversions  which 
hid  the  teaching  announced  by  Christ,  and  to  adopt  its  real  meaning — if 
not  completely,  then  at  least  in  some  greater  degree  than  that  in  which 
the  Church  had  held  it.  And  this  was  partially  done,  not  only  in  the 
reformations  of  Wyclif,  Huss,  Luther,  and  Calvin,  but  by  all  that  current  of 
non-Church  Christianity,  represented  in  earlier  times  by  the  Paulicians,  the 
Bogomilites,  and,  afterwards,  by  the  Waldenses  and  the  other  non -Church 
Christians  who  were  called  heretics.  But  this  could  be,  and  was,  done 
chiefly  by  poor  people — who  did  not  rule.  A  few  of  the  rich  and  strong, 
like  Francis  of  Assisi  and  others,  accepted  the  Christian  teaching  in  its 
full  significance,  even  though  it  undermined  their  privileged  positions. 
But  most  people  of  the  upper  classes  (though  in  the  depth  of  their  souls 
they  had  lost  faith  in  the  Church  teaching)  could  not,  or  would  not,  act 
thus,  because  the  essence  of  that  Christian  view  of  life,  which  stood  ready 
to  be  adopted  when  once  they  rejected  the  Church  faith,  was  a  teaching 
of  the  brotherhood  (and  therefore  the  equality)  of  man,  and  this  nega¬ 
tived  those  privileges  on  which  they  lived,  in  which  they  had  grown  up 
and  been  educated,  and  to  which  they  were  accustomed.  Not,  in  the 
depths  of  their  hearts,  believing  in  the  Church  teaching — which  had  out¬ 
lived  its  age  and  had  no  longer  any  true  meaning  for  them,  and  not  being 
strong  enough  to  accept  true  Christianity,  men  of  these  rich,  governing 
classes,  popes,  kings,  dukes,  and  all  the  great  ones  of  the  earth — were  left 
without  any  religion,  with  but  the  external  forms  of  one,  which  they  sup¬ 
ported  as  being  profitable  and  even  necessary  for  themselves,  since  these 
forms  screened  a  teaching  which  justified  those  privileges  which  they 
made  use  of.” 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


113 


There  was  much  of  the  spirit  of  George  Fox  in  all  this, 
but  neither  Fox  nor  the  Quakers  as  a  sect,  denied  the 
need  of  a  civil  magistracy.  To  the  Quakers  a  defective 
civil  government  seemed  better  than  none  at  all,  while 
to  the  Doukhobdrs,  on  the  contrary,  civil  government 
appeared  to  be  in  itself  an  evil. 

Doukhobdrism,  by  the  way,  has  never  had  any  suc¬ 
cess  among  the  upper  classes.  No  priest  has  ever  been 
converted  to  it,  nor,  with  the  exception  of  some  Cossack 
officers,  do  we  hear  of  any  converts  of  higher  rank  than 
a  couple  of  non-commissioned  officers,  a  wool-dealer,  and 
one  or  two  yeomen. 

The  first  Doukhobdr  leader  whose  name  we  can  give, 
was  Sylvan  Kolesnikof,  of  the  village  of  Nikdlsk  in  the 
Government  of  Ekaterinoslaf,  who  has  been  already  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  preceding  chapter.  He  was  a  man  who 
could  read;  which  among  the  common  people  of  those  days 
was  a  rare  accomplishment.  He  had  tact  and  prudence, 
and  was  remarkably  well  informed.  His  strict  life  and 
generosity  and  kindliness  attracted  people  to  him  ;  and  his 
sermons  carried  conviction  both  by  the  suitability  of 
his  message  to  his  audience  and  by  his  gift  of  natural 
eloquence. 

Sylvan  Kolesnikof s  propaganda  was  very  successful, 
and  he  lived  to  a  good  old  age  without  coming  into  con¬ 
flict  with  the  authorities.  He  taught  his  followers  that, 
as  the  externalities  of  religion  are  unimportant,  they 
might  conform  to  the  ceremonial  religion  of  whatever 
province  or  country  they  happened  to  be  in  :  behaving  as 
Catholics  in  Poland,  Orthodox  in  Russia,  or  Mohammedans 
in  Turkey  or  Persia. 

One  of  Kolesnikof s  sayings  was,  that  if  each  man 
would  renounce  himself,  there  would  be  neither  personal 

i 


114 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


sins  and  vices,  nor  public  evils  and  crimes.  Another  was, 
“  Let  us  bow  to  the  God  in  one  another,  for  we  are  the 
image  of  God  on  earth.'”  He  taught  that  “  by  the  cleans¬ 
ing  of  repentance,  and  the  enlightenment  of  spiritual 
instruction,  men  reach  the  sweetness  of  union  with  God.”  * 

Among  a  very  ignorant,  ill-governed  people,  neglected 
by  a  corrupt  Church,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  the  authority 
of  a  thoughtful,  eloquent  man,  devoting  himself  to  their 
instruction,  and  willing  to  organize  a  sect,  may  have  been 
very  strong.  The  gap  between  such  a  leader  and  the  bulk 
of  his  followers  will  probably  have  been  great.  In  all  sects 
one  finds  that  the  majority  of  the  members  have  been 
attracted  more  by  the  hypnotism  of  some  stronger  mind, 
or  by  the  influence  of  friends  or  relations,  than  by  any 
very  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  sect. 
To  get  a  suitable  leader  is  essential  to  the  starting  of  a 
sect,  and  to  secure  a  satisfactory  succession  of  good  leaders 
is  all-important  for  its  growth. 

The  Doukhobbr  tenets  of  Sylvan  Kolesnikof  seem 
not  to  have  differed  much  from  those  described  in  the 
first  chapter  of  this  book  ;  but  it  may  be  noted  in  passing 
that  he  held  the  doctrine  that  men's  souls  fell  before  the 
creation  of  the  world,  and  that  we  are,  in  fact,  fallen 
angels.  Similar  ideas  were  being  expressed,  about  the 
same  time,  by  L.  C.  de  Saint-Martin  (“  the  French 
Bohme  ”),  whose  writings  had  considerable  influence 
among  the  educated  classes  of  Moscow  and  Petersburg. 

In  the  latest  phases  of  Doukhobdr  history  we  have  a 
remarkable  instance  of  the  degree  to  which  the  present 
Doukhobdr  Leader  was  influenced  by  the  teaching  of 
Tolstoy,  and  of  the  curious  way  in  which  that  teaching 

*  Besides  Novitsky  and  Livanof,  see  also  an  article  by  I.  Harlamof 
in  the  Tiousskayci  Mid ,  1884. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


115 


(reaching  the  sect  as  the  opinion  of  their  own  Leader) 
modified  their  former  tenets.  Were  it  possible  to  do  so, 
it  would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  in  how  far  the 
opinions  expressed  by  the  Doukhobdrs  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  merely  an  echo  of  the  words  of 
Saint-Martin,  accepted  by  the  sect  owing  to  Kolesnikofs 
influence ;  or  in  how  far  the  influences  which  had  shaped 
Saint-Martin’s  opinions  had  also  shaped  the  views  of  the 
Doukhobdrs  independently  of  any  influence  the  works  of 
the  French  philosopher  may  have  had  upon  the  Doukho- 
bor  Leader.  What  may  safely  be  asserted  is,  that  the 
views  we  find  expressed  by  a  peasant  sect  are  often  those 
supplied  to  it  by  some  one  man,  who,  in  turn,  has  often 
taken  his  opinion  largely  from  some  one  writer  with  whose 
views  he  has  become  acquainted  either  through  books  or 
by  conversation. 

That,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  time,  this 
peasant  sect  should  have  been  able  to  formulate  such 
reasonable  and  coherent  views  as  those  which  have  come 
down  to  us  as  having  been  expressed  by  its  members  at  the 
first  official  inquiries  made  by  the  representatives  of  the 
Russian  Church  and  State  (towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century),  seems  wonderful ;  but  what  we  know  of  the  life 
of  the  philosopher,  Gregory  Skovoroda,  who,  report  says, 
drew  up  for  the  Doukhobdrs  the  confession  of  faith  they 
supplied  to  the  Governor  of  Ekaterinoslaf,  throws  some 
light  on  the  manner  in  which  such  ideas  were  formulated. 

Skovoroda  was  born  in  the  Kief  district  in  1722.  His 
parents  were  common  Cossacks  of  good  repute.  He 
became  a  chorister  at  the  Court  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth. 
Afterwards,  at  Kief,  he  studied  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew, 
as  well  as  philosophy,  natural  history,  and  theology.  His 
father  wished  him  to  enter  the  Church,  but  Skovoroda 


lift 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


was  too  deeply  religious  a  man  to  fall  in  with  his 
father’s  suggestion  and  become  what  he  called  “  a  whited 
sepulchre.”  Pressure  being  brought  to  bear  on  him  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Kief,  his  aversion  to  the  ecclesiastical 
profession  induced  young  Skovoroda  to  have  recourse  to 
deception.  He  pretended  to  lose  his  wits,  spoke  in  an 
altered  voice,  and  stammered.  By  these  means  he  escaped 
from  his  bursary  and  became  free  to  live  where  he  liked. 
His  knowledge  of  church  music  obtained  for  him  a  place 
in  the  suite  of  General  Vishnevsky,  who  received  a  diplo¬ 
matic  appointment  in  Hungary  about  that  time.  This 
gave  Skovoroda  a  chance  to  visit  Austria,  and,  as  he  spoke 
Latin  and  German  well  and  also  understood  Greek,  he 
was  able  to  make  acquaintance  among  scholars  and  to 
add  greatly  to  his  store  of  knowledge.  He  subsequently 
visited  Poland,  Prussia,  Germany  and  Italy,  and  became 
convinced  that  the  reign  of  injustice  and  the  oppression 
of  the  poor  by  the  rich,  were  not  confined  to  any  one 
country.  Returning  to  Russia  on  foot,  and  finding  his 
parents  dead,  he  acted  for  a  short  time  as  master  in  the 
Kharkof  College,  and  then  adopted  the  life  of  a  wanderer. 
Carrying  a  Hebrew  Bible  and  a  flute,  he  went  on  foot 
from  village  to  village  and  from  city  to  city,  giving  to 
others  by  his  advice,  conversation  and  music,  far  more 
than  an  equivalent  for  the  little  he  accepted  of  them.  By 
avoiding  all  posts  of  emolument  in  Church  or  State,  he 
retained  freedom  to  criticize,  and  he  was  always  bold  in 
speaking  of  the  misdeeds  of  the  powerful  and  in  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  humble  and  meek.  He  knew  both  the 
Molokans  and  Doukliobors,  and  must  have  been  of  use  to 
both,  though  he  was  too  educated  and  intelligent  a  man 
to  belong  to  either  sect. 

The  service  that  an  honest,  disinterested  man  of  this 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


117 


kind  could  confer  on  the  peasant  population  of  the 
Ukraine,  who  were  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  must 
have  been  very  great.  Not  to  burden  those  on  whom  he 
lived,  he  confined  himself  to  the  plainest  clothing  and  the 
coarsest  food.  He  was,  among  other  things,  a  musical 
composer,  and  the  Molokans  still  make  use  of  verses  and 
of  tunes  borrowed  from  him.  He  died  in  1794. 

Even  in  our  own  day  of  cheap  books  and  general 
primary  education,  a  really  wise  and  disinterested  man 
devoting  his  life  to  migratory  instruction  and  discussion, 
might  do  good  work.  In  the  Ukraine  of  the  eighteenth 
century  such  service  was  of  inestimable  value.  The  habit 
of  wandering  about  is  still  quite  common  in  Russia. 
Even  to-day  a  Pilgrim  on  tramp  may  count  on  getting 
something  to  eat  and  somewhere  to  sleep  at  any  peasant’s 
hut  he  comes  to.  To  go  on  pilgrimage  is  a  cheap  way  of 
getting  a  change  and  a  holiday,  and  has  even  a  flavour  of 
sanctity  about  it.  In  some  of  Tolstoy’s  writings  one 
meets  with  a  suggestion  that  the  really  good  man  would 
have  no  settled  place  of  residence,  but  would  wander  from 
place  to  place  ;  the  common  sense  of  the  matter  being,  I 
take  it,  that  a  man  like  Skovoroda,  who  renders  much 
service  and  consumes  little,  is  a  benefactor,  though  people 
who  systematically  and  regularly  go  on  tramp,  rendering 
little  service  and  consuming  more  than  they  are  worth, 
are  apt  to  become,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word, 
malefactors.  Generally  speaking,  a  man  who  wants  to  work 
wants  a  settled  place  to  work  in,  and  some  accustomed 
tools  to  work  with.  The  mere  fact  of  a  man  being 
migratory  or  stationary  supplies  no  guide  to  the  worth 
or  worthlessness  of  his  character. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  place  in  Doukhobdr  history 
which  illustrates  the  old  saying  that  “  extremes  meet.” 


118 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Criticism  of  external  authority  and  reliance  on  individual 
inspiration,  had  brought  the  sect  to  a  point  at  which  one 
short,  disastrous  step  placed  them  again  under  an  external 
authority,  and  led  to  a  state  of  deception  which  has  lasted 
to  our  own  day,  and  with  which  the  Canadian  Govern¬ 
ment  has  yet  to  reckon. 

Ilarion  Pobirohin  was  a  well-to-do  wool  dealer,  living 
in  the  village  of  Goreloe  in  Tambdf.  His  business  caused 
him  to  move  about  and  to  see  many  places  and  people. 
He  was  a  reader,  and  fond  of  religious  discussions.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  a  man  of  attractive  character,  eloquent, 
but  strongly  opinionated.  He  did  not  consider  the  Bible 
authoritative,  and  taught  that  “  truth  is  not  in  books  but 
in  the  spirit,  not  in  the  Bible  but  in  the  4  Living  Book.1 11 
Adopting  the  Doukhobor  faith,  he  became  the  recognized 
leader  in  his  own  district,  and  made  a  very  important 
addition  to,  or  rather  perversion  of,  their  doctrines.  Not 
content  with  recognizing  himself  to  be  a  son  of  God  like 
others,  inspired  by  the  holy  spirit  sufficiently  to  enable 
him  to  discern  his  duty  and  progress  towards  perfection, 
he  claimed  to  be  Christ.  A  similar  claim  has  been  re¬ 
peatedly  made  by  the  leaders  of  other  sects  ;  in  fact 
in  Eastern  Christendom  there  have  been  claimants  for 
divine  honours  from  very  early  times,  and  among  the 
Hlists  and  Skoptsi  one  loses  all  count  of  the  number  of 
Christs.  Even  in  the  western  world,  as  the  case  of  Ann 
Lee  the  foundress  of  the  Shakers,  and  the  more  recent 
example  of  Pigott  serve  to  remind  us,  pretensions  of 
the  same  sort  are  not  unknown.  Pobirdhin's  arrogance 
does  not  appear  to  have  shocked  his  followers.  He 
proceeded  to  establish  a  theocratic  despotism.  Twelve 
apostles  were  chosen,  and  twelve  “  Death-bearing  Angels 11 
appointed  to  punish  all  who  relapsed  after  once  becoming 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


119 


Doukhobors.  Among  his  tenets  was  that  of  the  infalli¬ 
bility  of  his  Church.  Collecting  the  Doukhobors  of  his 
district  together  into  one  place,  he  introduced  communism 
among  them.  The  ablest  of  his  assistants  appears  to  have 
been  Simeon  Ouklein,*  who  married  his  daughter.  Ouklein, 
however,  was  remarkably  well  read  in  the  Bible  and  could 
not  stand  Pobirbhin’s  authoritative  interpretations  and 
emendations;  so  he  ultimately  deserted  Pobirohin  and 
went  over  to  the  Molokans,  among  whom  he  became  a 
leader. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  Molokans,  who  base  their 
teaching  on  the  Bible,  and  the  Doukhobors,  who  base  theirs 
on  the  44  voice  within,”  are  inimical  to  one  another,  as  was 
seen  when,  under  Alexander  I.,  it  was  proposed  to  let 
some  Molokans  settle  at  the  Milky  Waters  near  the 
Doukhobors.  f 

Pobirohin  towards  the  end  of  his  life  increased  in  self- 
confidence  and  self-assurance.  He  was  proud,  boastful, 
and  dictatorial  in  settling  questions.  Ultimately  he  came 
into  conflict  with  the  civil  authorities,  was  committed  for 
trial,  and  was  sent,  with  his  children  and  with  some  of  his 
apostles,  to  live  in  Siberia.  Pobirohin  seems  to  have  been 
chiefly  active  about  the  years  1775-85. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
picture  we  get  of  the  Doukhobors  is  that  they  were 
scattered  about,  from  the  Volga  southward  and  westward 
over  Southern  Russia,  with  adherents  in  various  other 
parts  of  the  empire.  In  Finland,  Archangel  and  Siberia, 
small  groups  of  Doukhobors  are  met  with,  who  had  been 
banished  to  those  parts  by  the  Government.  The  inter- 

*  Livdnof,  vol.  i.  p.  263. 

t  In  the  same  way  certain  Stundists  who  are  now  settled  near  the 
Doukhobors  in  Canada,  find  the  latter  very  unfriendly  neighbours. 


120 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


mittency  of  persecution  during  the  reigns  of  Catherine 
the  Great  and  Paul  illustrates  the  haphazard  methods  of 
government  that  prevailed.  No  common  principle  seems 
to  have  influenced  the  authorities  in  different  provinces, 
or  in  different  years.  The  tenets  of  the  sect  at  that  time 
were  variously  expressed  by  the  Doukhobdrs  of  different 
parts,  but  the  general  tendency  was  one  of  rejection  of 
church  rites  and  church  authority,  an  attitude  of  more  or 
less  marked  disapproval  of  the  civil  authorities,  and  a  dis¬ 
approval  of  war  and  oaths.  The  Bible  is  often  quoted  for 
polemical  purposes,  but  does  not  constitute  an  authority 
to  which  the  Doukhobdrs  owe  primary  allegiance. 

The  first  attempt  to  draw  the  sect  into  a  compact  com¬ 
munity,  and  the  first  assumption  of  divine  authority  by 
a  Doukhobdr  leader,  belong  to  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Pobirohin’s  successor  was  Savely  Kapoustin,  the  most 
remarkable  of  all  the  Doukhobdr  Leaders.  According  to 
some  accounts  he  was  a  son  of  Pobirohin’s,  and  was  taken 
as  a  recruit  as  a  punishment  for  being  a  Doukhobdr. 
However  that  may  be,  it  seems  that  he  served  as  corporal 
in  the  Guards,  and,  after  leaving  the  army,  assumed  the 
post  left  vacant  by  Pobirohin’s  banishment  to  Siberia. 
Novitsky  conjectures  that  Kapoustin,  who  was  born  in 
1743,  would  have  completed  his  twenty-five  years’  service 
by  about  1790,  and  that  is  probably  about  the  time  when 
he  became  Leader  of  the  Tambdf  Doukhobdrs. 

He  was  a  tall  man,  well  built  (as  all  the  Guards  were), 
had  an  imposing  gait  and  appearance,  an  amazing  memory, 
great  ability,  and  remarkable  eloquence.  His  ascendency 
over  the  Doukhobdrs  who  came  under  his  influence,  seems 
to  have  been  complete. 

According  to  the  law  of  the  times,  his  son  would  be  liable 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


121 


to  serve  in  the  army  as  he  himself  had  done.  Kapoustin, 
therefore,  made  arrangements  that  the  boy  should  be 
officially  illegitimate.  For  this  purpose  he  sent  his  wife 
back  to  her  own  family,  the  Kalmikofs,  before  the  child 
was  born,  and  let  the  boy  pass  by  their  name.  After  this, 
Kapoustin  remarried  his  wife.  This  explains  how  it  was 
that  the  dynasty  founded  by  Kapoustin,  has  borne  the 
family  name  of  Kalmikdf. 

It  is  difficult  to  be  sure  of  the  correctness  of  many 
statements  made  about  the  Doukhobors,  for  they  have 
no  written  records  of  their  own  and  have  always  been 
unwilling  to  allow  outsiders  to  pry  into  the  secrets  of 
their  sect;  besides  this,  the  official  records  concerning 
them,  and  concerning  trials  in  which  they  were  concerned 
have,  for  the  most  part,  not  been  published.  One  con¬ 
tinually  meets,  therefore,  with  contradictory  evidence,  and 
has  to  pick  one’s  way  cautiously,  knowing  that  the 
publication  of  State  documents  may,  some  day,  show 
things  in  a  fresh  light. 

On  the  assassination  of  Paul,  Alexander  I.  came  to 
the  throne  and  reigned  from  1801  to  1825.  In  his  early 
years  he  showed  himself  humane  and  tolerant,  though  the 
last  years  of  his  reign  were  reactionary.  This  change  of 
disposition  and  policy  are  reflected  on  the  history  of  the 
Doukhobors,  about  whom  during  his  reign  we  have  more 
official  information  than  we  possess  for  any  other  period. 

The  Senators  Lopouhin  and  Neledinsky-Meletsky 
reported  to  Alexander  the  foolishly  harsh  treatment  the 
Doukhobors  were  receiving  at  the  hands  of  various  local 
authorities.  This  led  to  a  series  of  instructions  beino; 
issued  by  the  Emperor  to  the  Governors  of  the  provinces, 
in  which  he  insisted  on  the  uselessness  and  harmfulness  of 


122  A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

persecution  as  a  remedy  for  religious  error.  At  the  same 
time,  Alexander  did  not  intend  to  allow  the  sectarians 
to  proselytize,  and  he,  therefore,  approved  of  a  plan  for 
their  migration  to  the  Milky  Waters,  a  fertile  district 
named  after  a  river  that  flows  through  it  and  runs  into 
the  Sea  of  Azof. 

When  the  permission  was  given,  secret  adherents  to 
the  sect  appeared  in  many  parts  of  the  country. 

In  1801,  thirty  Doukhobor  families  were  transported 
thither  as  an  experiment,  and  their  settlement  proving 
very  successful  other  Doukhobdrs  from  various  Govern¬ 
ments  began  to  petition  to  be  allowed  to  join  them.  At 
first  these  permissions  were  readily  granted,  the  Govern¬ 
ments  sometimes  even  paying  the  cost  of  the  migration 
besides  making  a  liberal  grant  of  fertile  land  and  allowing 
freedom  from  taxation  for  a  period  of  five  years.  This 
was,  however,  by  no  means  a  general  permission  extend¬ 
ing  to  all  Doukhobdrs.  They  were  liable  to  be  treated 
differently  in  each  Government.  In  1812  we  find  the 
intended  migration  of  some  parties  of  Doukhobdrs  for¬ 
bidden  on  account  of  the  Napoleonic  invasion  ;  and  soon 
after  that  date  we  find  an  increasing  disinclination  to 
permit  the  further  increase  of  what  was  becoming  a  con¬ 
spicuously  successful  and  favoured  sectarian  settlement. 
Having  been  placed  on  an  equality  with  the  Mennonite 
and  other  Colonists,  who  had  been  invited  to  settle  in 
Russia,  the  Doukhobdrs  of  the  Milky  Waters  may  be 
said  to  have  held,  at  this  time,  a  privileged  position  in 
comparison  with  the  Orthodox  peasant ;  but,  of  course, 
Doukhobdrs  who  were  serfs  of  private  proprietors  were 
not  allowed  to  migrate  to  the  Milky  Waters,  as  they 
would  thus  have  escaped  from  their  owners. 

A  curious  fact  to  be  noticed,  moreover,  is  that 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


123 


Alexander  I.,  in  spite  of  his  beneficent  intentions  and 
humane  decrees,  was  unable  to  stop  the  persecution  of  the 
Doukhobors.  Again  and  again  during  his  reign,  now 
here  and  now  there,  now  on  one  pretext  and  now  on 
another,  the  local  authorities  worried  and  tormented  them. 
Year  by  year  those  who  wished  to  migrate  to  the  “  Milky 
Waters  ”  found  it  more  and  more  difficult  to  get  leave  to 
go  there  ;  and  at  last,  before  Alexander’s  death,  further 
migrations  thither  were  quite  prohibited. 

The  following  story  shows  what  was  possible  in  those 
days.  In  a  certain  village  of  the  Tambdf  Government, 
some  officially  Orthodox  peasants,  who  bore  the  character 
of  being  well-behaved  and  industrious,  refused  to  receive 
the  priest  who  came  to  visit  them  at  Christmas.  They 
would  not  go  up  to  him  to  kiss  the  cross,  nor  did  they 
give  him  the  usual  presents.  When  official  inquiry  was 
made,  they  explained  their  conduct  by  stating  that  they 
had  suffered  much  rudeness  and  violence  at  the  hands  of 
this  unworthy  priest.  The  magistrate,  before  whom  the 
case  was  examined,  reported  that  the  peasants  had  been 
guilty  of  rudeness,  and  of  perverting  the  Orthodox  by 
holding  heretical  gatherings.  The  case  was  sent  for  trial 
to  the  Tambdf  courts.  There  the  peasants  declared  that 
they  were  not  Orthodox,  but  had  been  induced  externally 
to  conform  to  the  Church  by  threats  the  priest  had  used. 
As  to  their  real  beliefs,  they  explained  that  they  did  not 
respect  the  Church,  nor  the  cross,  nor  the  Gospels,  nor  icons 
which  are  made  by  men’s  hands.  They  did  not  believe  in 
communion,  confession,  or  baptism.  They  hated  priests 
and  did  not  let  them  into  their  houses.  They  did  not 
keep  the  fasts  of  the  Church,  but  partook  of  milk  and 
flesh,  except  pig’s  flesh,  which  they  refrained  from  “  in 
order  to  escape  the  fate  of  the  Orthodox,  and  not  to 


124 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


perish.1’  They  had  no  marriage,  but  lived  lovingly  with 
whom  they  chose.  They  buried  their  dead  at  home,  and 
served  God  in  the  spirit,  strengthened  and  confirmed  by 
the  spirit,  from  which  spirit  they  received  the  sword, 
with  which  spiritual  sword  they  waged  war  and  overcame 
all  things.  They  declared  that  they  rendered  obedience 
to  the  authorities,  and  refrained  from  converting  the 
Orthodox  to  their  sect. 

The  two  chief  offenders,  of  the  nine  accused,  were 
sentenced  to  be  knouted,  and  banished  to  the  town  of 
Kola,  in  Archangel ;  the  other  seven  were  to  be  severely 
flogged  in  public,  and  all  their  children  were  to  be 
baptized.  Two  of  the  offenders  died  of  their  flogging. 

On  the  morning  of  April  14,  1803,  a  Doukhobor, 
named  Zot  Mouzhoseyef,  drove  up  in  a  peasant  cart  to 
the  house  of  the  Governor  of  Tambdf,  Palitsin. 

“  Is  the  Governor  at  home  ?  11  asked  he  of  the  sentinel. 

“  His  Excellency  is  not  at  home.11 

“Then  let  his  wife  know  that  I  have  brought  a 
present.11 

The  Governor’s  steward  came  to  see  what  was  on  the 
cart.  Mouzhoseyef,  however,  would  not  let  him  examine 
it,  but,  taking  the  horse  from  the  cart,  got  on  its  back 
and  rode  off,  leaving  the  cart  in  the  Governor’s  yard. 
The  servants  naturally  hastened  to  examine  the  cart,  and 
they  found  on  it  a  corpse,  discoloured  with  dark-blue 
bruises  and  wales.  It  was  the  body  of  the  peasant  Peter 
Drdbishof,  one  of  the  two  who  had  been  flogged  to  death 
by  the  police. 

Mouzhoseyef  was  overtaken,  brought  back,  and  ques¬ 
tioned.  At  his  examination  he  stated  that,  “  On 
April  13,  the  peasant  Erraakof  brought  my  own  brother 
Sergey  to  me  ;  many  people  were  following  him — men  and 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


1 25 


women.  My  brother  was  being  held  up  by  his  arms,  and 
could  hardly  stand  on  his  feet.  I  placed  him  on  the  bed, 
and  Ermakof  told  me  :  4  Your  brother  Sergey  is  ill  after 
being  publicly  flogged  with  other  Doukhobdrs  of  our 
village.  He  was  punished  for  his  faith's  sake,  by  the 
Assessor  von  Menik.'  Next  day  I  went  to  see  those  who 
had  been  flogged,  and  among  them  visited  Peter  Drdbishof 
— whom  I  found  already  dead.  Near  his  body  sat  his 
little  son  (whose  name  I  don't  remember)  crying.  Then 
I  took  the  dead  body  and  drove  with  it  to  the  Governor, 
to  ask  for  protection.  .  .  ." 

Palitsin,  the  Governor,  was  much  offended  by  Mou- 
zhoseyef's  conduct,  and  addressed  a  complaint  to  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  stating  that — 

44  During  my  absence  from  home,  extreme  agitation 
and  offence  have  been  caused,  and  a  great  insult  offered, 
to  my  whole  family." 

On  inquiries  it  transpired  that  von  Menik  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  punishing  the  peasants  unmercifully.  He 
compelled  the  Doukhobdr  girls  to  kiss  him ;  put  peasants 
into  the  stocks,  and  made  heavy  requisitions  upon  them  ; 
so  that,  for  instance,  he  had  collected  sashes  alone  for  a 
value  of  thirty  rubles  from  them,  and  also  demanded  one 
hundred  rubles  in  money,  saying,  44  If  you  don't  give  it, 
I'll  have  you  all  knouted  and  send  you  to  exile." 

Besides  Peter  Drdbishof  himself,  his  father  Philip 
Drdbishof  also  died,  five  days  after  the  flogging. 

Dr.  Drougof,  called  as  a  medical  expert,  deposed  that 
44  The  punishment  inflicted  on  the  Doukhobdrs  was  not 
excessive,  and  they  died,  probably,  from  taking  poison, 
which  may  have  caused  the  dark-blue  spots  and  other 
marks  on  the  backs  and  bellies  of  the  deceased." 

Zot  Mouzhoseyef  was  sentenced  to  be  knouted  and 


126 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


banished  to  Archangel ;  while  five  other  peasants  were  to 
be  beaten  with  rods. 


A  new  trial  was  ordered,  however,  and  the  punish¬ 
ments  reduced  to  a  few  strokes  with  the  rod.  The 
Minister  of  Justice,  Prince  Lopouhin,  then  laid  the  case 
before  the  Emperor,  the  sentence  was  quashed,  and  it 

was  decided  that  the  peasants  should  migrate  from  that 
* 

While  scenes  such  as  this  were  still  going  on  in  the 
interior  of  Russia,  quite  a  different  wind  was  blowing  in 
the  capitals,  and  among  advanced  circles  elsewhere.  The 
Freemasons  were  prominent,  with  projects  of  universal 
brotherhood.  The  Martinists  (borrowing  their  name  from 
Louis  Claude  de  Saint  Martin),  a  branch  of  Freemasons 
tinged  with  religious  mysticism,  were  also  numerous  and 
active.  A  Tugendbund  was  formed  to  promote  the  practice 
of  the  virtues.  In  1812  the  Petersburg  Bible  Society  was 
founded,  and  was  zealously  supported  by  many  of  the 
aristocracy,  as  well  as  by  the  Molokans  and  other  peasant 
sectarians.  Alexander  himself,  midway  through  his 
reign,  became  concerned  about  spiritual  matters,  though 
politically  he  grew  more  reactionary.  Visiting  England  in 
1814,  he  was  interested  by  the  Quakers  who  laid  their 
peace  principles  before  him,  and  he  even  invited  some  of 
them  to  visit  Russia.  All  this  was  characteristic  of 
Alexander’s  reign,  just  as  the  suppression  of  the  Russian 
branch  of  the  Bible  Society  in  1826  (two  years  after  it 
had  issued  a  complete  Russian  version  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment)  was  characteristic  of  the  regime  introduced  by 
Nicholas  I.,  whose  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  joined 
the  Arch- Abbot  Totius  in  denouncing  the  Bible  Society 


*  The  account  by  M.  Tebenkof,  in  the  Rousskaya  Starina,  1896, 
supplements  Novitsky’s  account  of  the  same  occurrence. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


127 


as  “  a  revolutionary  association,  intended  for  the  over¬ 
throw  of  thrones  and  churches,  and  of  law,  order,  and 
religion  throughout  the  world,  with  a  view  to  establishing 
an  universal  republic.”  This  opinion  was  based,  no  doubt, 
on  the  fact  that  some  members  of  the  Bible  Society 
were  in  favour  of  reform,  and  probably  did  not  know 
exactly  how  far  they  were  willing  to  go ;  and  that  the 
social  and  political  implications  of  the  Bible  (which,  in 
a  country  such  as  England  is  to-day,  pass  off  people’s 
minds  like  water  off  a  duck’s  back)  may,  where  the 
book  is  read  less  habitually  but  more  intelligently, 
produce  explosive  effects ;  as  history  has  more  than  once 
shown. 

The  Doukhobdr  Settlement  at  the  Milky  Waters 
gradually  increased.  A  considerable  addition  was  made 
to  their  numbers  in  1805,  when  many  Tambdf  Doukho¬ 
bdrs  joined  them  and  Kapoustin  was  invited  to  become 
their  Leader.  By  1816  there  were  nine  villages  number¬ 
ing  1,459  “  souls  ”  ( i.e .  males),  or  about  three  thousand 
inhabitants. Y  A  much  greater  number  of  Doukhobdrs 
remained  scattered  over  Russia,  but  the  group  at  the 
Milky  Waters  represents  the  largest  compact  body  ;  and, 
as  they  took  a  quite  peculiar  line  and  development  of 
their  own,  and  are  the  ancestors  of  the  Doukhobdrs  now 
in  Canada,  I  shall  confine  my  attention  to  them ;  the 
accounts  extant  of  the  other  Doukhobdrs  being  indeed 
so  fragmentary  that  to  write  a  consecutive  history  of  them 
would  hardly  be  possible. 

It  deserves  to  be  noted,  however,  that  considerable  con¬ 
fusion  results  from  the  use  of  the  same  name  “  Doukhobdr  ” 
both  by  rationalist  sectarians  scattered  about  in  Russia 
and  Siberia,  and  by  the  group  that,  under  Kapoustin’s 
domination,  lost  the  freedom  of  thought  that  had  been 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


128 

characteristic  of  the  sect,  and  became  a  clan  yielding  blind 
obedience  to  hereditary  leaders. 

We  have,  during  Alexander’s  reign,  quite  a  considerable 
number  of  enactments  relating  to  the  Doukhobors,  as  well 
as  of  petitions  presented  by  them  to  the  Government ;  but 
of  what  went  on  within  the  community  at  Milky  Waters 
(which  now  became  a  nation  within  a  nation)  we  know 
little.  What  information  we  do  possess  is  largely  derived 
from  Baron  A.  von  Haxthausen,  who,  having  published  an 
exhaustive  treatise  on  Prussian  land  tenure,  was  invited  by 
Nicholas  I.,  in  1843-44,  to  make  a  similar  investigation 
concerning  Russia.  His  book,  Studien  uber  die  inneren 
Zustdnde ,  das  Volkleben ,  und  insbesondcre  die  landliclien 
Einrichtungen  Russlands  (3  vols.  1847-52),  contains  an 
interesting  account  of  the  Doukhobors.  He  obtained  his 
information  chiefly  from  some  very  intelligent  and  observant 
Mennonites,  who  lived  near  the  Doukhobor  settlement  and 
had  taken  great  pains  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  beliefs 
and  habits  of  their  neighbours.  Haxthausen’s  statements 
have  been  disputed,  and  he  certainly  makes  mistakes  in 
names  and  dates,  and  brings  one  accusation  against  the 
Doukhobors  (that  of  the  infanticide  of  sickly  or  crippled 
infants)  which  finds  no  confirmation  elsewhere.  But  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  sect  inclines  one  to  accept 
Haxthausen’s  account  as  being  correct  in  the  main, 
though  not  in  all  its  details. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  the  Doukhobors, 
who  had  been  so  critical  and  denunciatory  of  all  govern¬ 
ment,  would  get  into  trouble  when  it  came  to  forming 
their  own  administration ;  for  it  is  much  easier  to  criticize 
than  to  construct,  and  in  a  peasant  sect  it  might  be 
expected  that  some  of  the  adherents  would  be  backward, 
ignorant,  and  hard  to  manage.  No  difficulty,  however, 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


129 


appears  to  have  been  encountered  in  the  organization  of 
the  community.  From  the  very  start,  order  reigned  in 
the  new  Settlement,  and  it  advanced  rapidly  in  prosperity, 
gave  the  Russian  authorities,  for  many  years,  little 
trouble,  and  extorted  high  praise  for  good  order  and 
success  in  agriculture,  from  those  who  visited  it.  What 
happened  was  that  Kapoustin  established  himself  as  abso¬ 
lute  ruler,  and  instilled  into  the  people  habits  of  secrecy 
with  reference  to  all  that  concerned  the  sect,  and  of 
implicit  obedience  to  himself.  This  is  what  Haxthausen 
says : 

“All  subjected  themselves  willingly  to  him,  and  he 
ruled  like  a  king,  or  rather  a  prophet.  He  expounded 
the  tenets  of  the  Doukhobdrs  in  a  manner  to  turn  them 
to  his  own  peculiar  profit  and  advantage.  He  attached 
peculiar  importance  to  the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration 
of  souls"j*Vhich  was  already  known  among  them  ;  he  also 
taught  that  Christ  is  born  again  in  every  believer;  that 
God  is  in  every  one,  for  when  the  Word  became  flesh  it 
became  this  ( i.e .  man  in  the  world)  for  all  time,  like  every¬ 
thing  divine.  But  each  human  soul,  at  least  as  long  as 
the  created  world  exists,  remains  a  distinct  individual. 
Now,  when  God  descended  into  the  individuality  of  Jesus 
as  Christ,  He  sought  out  the  purest  and  most  perfect  man 
that  ever  existed,  and  the  soul  of  Jesus  was  the  purest  and 
most  perfect  of  all  human  souls.  God,  since  the  time 
when  He  first  revealed  himself  in  Jesus,  has  always 
remained  in  the  human  race,  and  dwells  and  reveals  Him¬ 
self  in  every  believer.  But  the  individual  soul  of  Jesus, 
where  has  it  been  ?  By  virtue  of  the  law  of  the  trans¬ 
migration  of  souls,  it  must  necessarily  have  animated 
another  human  body  !  Jesus  himself  said,  ‘  I  am  with 
you  always,  until  the  end  of  the  world.’  Thus  the  soul 


K 


130 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


of  Jesus,  favoured  by  God  above  all  human  souls,  has  from 
generation  to  generation  continually  animated  new  bodies; 
and  by  virtue  of  its  higher  qualities,  and  by  the  peculiar 
and  absolute  command  of  God,  it  has  invariably  retained 
a  remembrance  of  its  previous  condition.  Every  man, 
therefore,  in  whom  it  resided,  knew  that  the  soul  of  Jesus 
was  in  him.  In  the  first  centuries  after  Christ  this  was 
so  universally  acknowledged  among  believers,  that  every 
one  recognized  the  new  Jesus,  who  was  the  guide  and 
ruler  of  Christendom,  and  decided  all  disputes  respecting 
the  Faith,  ^^he  Jesus  thus  always  born  again  was  called 
Pope.  False  Popes,  however,  soon  obtained  possession  of 
the  throne  of  Jesus ;  but  the  true  Jesus  only  retained  a 
small  band  of  believers  about  him,  as  he  predicted  in  the 
New  Testament,  4  Many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen. ’ 
These  believers  are  the  Doukhobdrs,  among  whom  Jesus 
constantly  dwells,  his  soul  animating  one  of  them.^  4  Thus 
Sylvan  Kolesnikof,  of  Nikolsk,’  said  Kapoustin,  4  whom 
the  older  among  you  knew,  was  Jesus ;  but  now,  as  truly 
as  the  heaven  is  above  me  and  the  earth  under  my  feet,  I 
am  the  true  Jesus  Christ  your  Lord !  ’  ” 

Kapoustin  introduced,  for  a  while,  community  of 
goods.  The  fields  were  tilled  in  common,  and  the  harvests 
divided  among  all.  Storehouses  were  built  to  provide 
against  years  of  dearth,  various  industries  were  started, 
and  the  Colony  made  visible  progress. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  some  Russian  sects,  nearly 
related  in  other  ways  to  the  Doukhobdrs,  have  community 
of  women ;  and  wherever  community  of  goods  is  prac¬ 
tised  there  is  likely  to  be  some  tendency  towards  com¬ 
munity  of  women  also.  The  same  type  of  mind  that 
objects  to  definiteness  and  explicitness  in  property  rela¬ 
tions,  often  objects  to  definiteness  and  explicitness  in 


WOMENKIND. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILUHOiS 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


131 


marital  relations  also.  To  the  credit  of  the  Doukhobdrs 
be  it  said  that — though  some  attempt  was  at  one  time 
made  to  introduce  community  of  women  among  them,  and 
though  now  and  then  one  hears  reports  of  some  disorder, 
or,  more  often,  of  some  licence  allowed  to  the  Leaders — 
on  the  whole,  comparing  them  with  other  sects,  and 
excepting  one  short  period  of  their  history,  the  sex 
question  appears  to  have  occasioned  but  little  trouble 
among  them. 

Isolated  and  subject  to  the  rule  of  a  strong  and  able 
Leader,  a  “  cake  of  custom  ”  formed  itself  among  and 
around  the  Doukhobdrs,  and  they  ceased  to  be  propagan¬ 
dists.  Kapoustin  adopted  every  means  to  retain  their 
allegiance.  He  appointed  thirty  Elders  and  twelve 
Apostles,  by  whose  aid  he  governed.  The  common 
members  of  the  sect  were  discouraged  from  learning  to 
read  or  write.  The  occupations  approved  of  for  them 
were  agriculture  and  handicrafts.  Trade  and  commerce 
were  discouraged  as  likely  to  engender  covetousness ;  also, 
perhaps,  as  causing  intercourse  with  “  Chaldeans,' ”  or  out¬ 
siders,  whose  opinions  and  practices  might  be  harmful  to 
the  u  chosen  people.'’ 

Intercourse  with  the  Russian  authorities  was  carried 
on  by  Kapoustin  and  his  nominees.  The  taxes  were  paid 
by  them  for  the  whole  Colony,  so  that  it  appeared  to  the 
Doukhobdrs  that  the  semi-independence  of  Kapoustin’s 
dominion  was  recognized  by  the  Suzerain  Power  to  whom 
tribute  was  paid.  Absolute  and  unquestioning  obedience 
to  their  Leaders  was  required  of  them,  and  they  were 
taught  that  the  Leader  was  free  at  any  time  to  dispose  of 
the  person  or  property  of  any  member  of  the  sect.*  One 

*  See,  for  this  period  and  especially  for  a  later  period  of  their  history, 
M.  Tebenkof’s  very  interesting  article  in  the  Rousslcaya  Starinu,  18i)C, 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


132 

also  here  and  there  comes  across  allusions  to  the  Leader’s 
miraculous  powers,  but  these  references  are  rather  vague. 

The  result  of  Kapoustin’s  influence  was  to  convert  what 
had  been  an  ultra-democratic,  anti-Governmental  sect,  into 
a  society  in  which  he  was  an  autocrat  controlling  not  only 
the  persons  and  property,  but  even  the  very  thoughts  of 
his  subjects. 

The  Doukhobbrs  were  trained  (and  the  traces  of  this 
are  still  evident  to-day)  to  conceal  their  real  beliefs  from 
outsiders,  and  to  be  most  careful  not  to  involve  their  Leader 
in  any  difficulty  by  admitting  that  he  dictated  their  actions. 
Any  course  decided  upon  by  the  Doukhobbrs  is,  even  to¬ 
day,  usually  justified  to  outsiders  by  the  use  of  texts  from 
the  Bible,  not  because  such  texts  are  authoritative  to  the 
Doukhobbrs,  but  because  they  are  a  safe  way  of  expressing 
their  decisions. 

Among  the  regulations  adopted  by  Kapoustin  was  one 
to  the  effect  that  the  Doukhobbrs  should  not  apply  to  the 
Russian  courts  of  justice.  All  their  disputes  were  to  be 
settled  among  themselves. 

Their  behaviour  to  Russian  officials  who  visited  the 
Colony,  was  to  be  modest  and  respectful ;  they  were  to 
lift  their  hats  as  they  approached  them,  to  bow  low,  and 
to  reply  to  inquiries  in  set  terms  learnt  by  heart  in  advance. 
Their  duty  was  to  work  hard  all  their  lives,  at  agriculture, 
cattle-breeding,  and  carting. 

After  some  years,  Kapoustin,  growing  old,  abandoned 
the  communal  system,  and  allowed  private  property  to  be 
held.  It  is  alleged  that  when  the  communal  property  was 
divided  up,  the  share  allotted  by  him  to  his  own  family 

of  which  I  have  made  considerable  use.  Its  bias  is  towards  the  Govern¬ 
ment  side,  but  it  helps  to  explain  many  things  which  are  absolutely  un¬ 
intelligible  as  long  as  only  the  pro-Doukliobdr  accounts  are  read. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


133 


was  very  large,  but  we  do  not  hear  of  any  protest  being 
made  by  his  subjects. 

An  institution  which  added  greatly  to  the  Leader’s 
power,  was  the  44  Orphans1  Home,11  founded  ostensibly  to 
secure  the  welfare  of  aged  widows  and  orphans.  This 
nominal  purpose  was  not  of  much  importance  among  the 
Doukhobdrs,  who  deserve  credit  for  the  way  in  which  the 
weaker  members  are  looked  after  in  their  own  or  in  some 
other  family.  The  real  purpose  of  the  Orphans1  Home 
seems  to  have  been  rather,  under  a  safe  disguise,  to  supply 
a  seat  of  Government,  and  form  a  treasury  to  meet 
emergencies,  and  to  centralize  the  power  of  the  sect. 
For  the  maintenance  of  this  institution  a  large  estate 
was  placed  practically  at  the  uncontrolled  disposal  of 
the  Leader,  who  for  official  purposes  in  relation  to  the 
Russian  Government  figured  as  44  The  Manager  of  the 
Orphans1  Home.11  Among  the  Doukhobdrs  the 44  Orphans1 
Home  11  went  by  the  name  of  44  Zion.11  Virgins  were  there 
trained  to  sing  the  44  Psalms 11  which  Kapoustin  supplied  to 
make  up  the  44  Living  Book 11 :  never  written  but  always 
committed  to  memory.  Zion  was  a  large  wooden  building, 
near  which  were  plenty  of  fruit  and  other  trees,  and  two 
fountains  supplied  by  an  excellent  spring  of  water. 

A  reply  given  by  the  Doukhobdrs  to  an  Archimandrite 
lets  us  know  what  opinion  they  had  formed  of  themselves  : 
“  We  are  a  holy  people,  the  King’s  anointed,  a  people 
renewed,  and  without  sin.”  *  What  the  Russian  local 
authorities  thought  of  them  we  learn  from  an  official 
report  of  the  year  1807,  which  stated  that  they  were 
quick  to  adopt  agricultural  improvements  from  Mennonites 
settled  near  their  Colony,  and  that  many  of  them  had 
even  adopted  Mennonite  methods  of  clothing  and  building. 

*  I.  Hurldmof,  KoussJcaya  Misl,  1884. 


134 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


The  women,  in  accord  with  the  tenets  of  their  sect,  and  to 
distinguish  themselves  from  the  Orthodox,  wore  no  earrings 
or  rings.  They  were  sober,  well-to-do  people ;  exceedingly 
punctual  taxpayers.  In  intercourse  with  the  Russian  officials 
they  were  submissive.  They  were  accustomed  to  help  one 
another,  calling  one  another  44  brother 11  and  “  sister  ”  ;  and 
their  clannishness  even  went  to  such  an  undesirable  length 
that  they  used  all  possible  means  to  conceal  the  misdeeds 
of  their  co-religionists.  They  were,  however,  exceedingly 
suspicious ;  had  no  confidence  in,  or  frankness  with,  out¬ 
siders,  and  even  feared  and  watched  one  another.  Instances 
had  occurred  among  them  of  one  man  killing  another  for  a 
single  rash  word  uttered  in  a  state  of  intoxication. 

The  statements  we  get  from  official  Russian  sources  are 
in  the  main  borne  out  by  the  account  Robert  Pinkerton, 
who  travelled  on  behalf  of  the  Bible  Society  and  visited 
the  Milky  Waters  in  1816,  gives  us  of  his  visit  to  the 
Doukhobors.  The  following  extracts  are  from  his  book, 
Russia. 

“On  approaching  the  first  of  their  villages,  on  the 
Molochnia  (Milky  Waters),  I  met  a  female,  and  inquired 
of  her  where  the  chief  person  of  the  place  resided.  The 
answer  she  gave  me  was, 4  Among  us,  no  one  is  greater  than 
another.1  The  next  person  I  met  was  a  shepherd  attending 
his  flocks,  an  old  man  with  grey  hair.  I  made  my  driver 
stop,  and  beckoned  to  the  man  to  draw  near.  This  he 
did ;  and  uncovering  his  head,  he  leaned  over  his  staff  and 
replied  to  my  inquiries.  I  asked  him  if  he  could  read,  he 
replied  :  4  Yes,  1  can  read  the  Word  of  Life.1  From  this  I 
naturally  thought  that  he  was  able  to  read  the  Bible,  and 
offered  him  a  Tract  on  the  Bible  Society.  He  refused,  how¬ 
ever,  to  accept  it ;  saying,  that  he  could  not  read  our  books, 
but  only  the  Book  of  Life,  which  he  had  learnt  by  heart ; 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


135 


in  other  words,  that  he  could  repeat  the  principal  doctrinal 
and  moral  Articles  of  the  sect. 

“  I  stopped  at  the  second  village  ;  and  without  ceremony 
entered  one  of  the  best-looking  houses  ...  I  discovered 
that  I  was  in  the  Chancery,  or  place  where  the  civil  affairs 
of  the  sect  are  transacted.” 

“ .  .  .  This  (viz.  to  have  all  things  in  common)  was  their 
practice  when  they  came  to  the  Molochnia ;  but  now  every 
family  has  its  own  private  property,  cattle,  fields,  etc.  Still 
they  have  fields  of  corn,  gardens,  and  flocks  which  belong 
to  the  whole  community,  and  the  revenues  of  which  are 
applied  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  society.” 

“  Their  neighbours,  the  Mennonites  and  other  German 
Colonists,  speak  well  of  their  morals  ;  but  all  complain  of 
the  reserve  and  shyness  of  their  character  .  .  .  Their 
neighbours  seem  to  know  little  of  their  religious  tenets. 
The  Mennonites  say  they  are  a  peaceable  and  industrious 
people,  but  accuse  them  of  hypocrisy  :  hence,  say  they, 
when  some  of  their  members  were  convicted  of  drunkenness, 
they  denied  the  fact,  and  maintained  that  their  members 
were  all  holy.  Very  few  among  them  appear  capable  of 
reading  ;  yet  their  members  seem  to  have  had  the  doctrines 
of  the  sect  instilled  into  them  by  oral  instruction.  These 
lessons  are  committed  to  memory.  ...  I  did  not  see  a 
book  of  any  kind  among  them.  I  recommended  to  them 
the  Bible,  and  offered  to  supply  them  with  it ;  but  they 
refused  to  accept  any  copies  saying,  *  That  what  was  in  the 
Bible  was  in  them  also  ! 1  ” 

“  Their  whole  aspect,  and  manner  of  intercourse  with 
strangers,  indicates  a  degree  of  shyness  and  distrust  which 
is  quite  extraordinary  ;  hence  also,  their  evasive  answers 
to  all  direct  inquiries  respecting  their  sect.  .  .  .” 

The  Doukhobdr  settlement  flourished,  and  their  steady 


136 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


industry  was  beyond  reproach ;  but  troubles  awaited 
them.  Their  prosperity  attracted  others  to  their  faith,  and 
the  authorities  received  application  from  newly  converted 
Doukhobdrs  to  be  allowed  to  join  the  settlement  at 
Milky  Waters.  This  looked  as  though  the  Kapoustinite 
Doukhobdrs  were  proselytizing.  Besides  this,  two  or 
three  worthless  Doukhobdrs  who  had  been  expelled  from 
the  community  and  had  thereupon  become  Orthodox, 
brought  accusations  against  the  sect.  Men  were  arrested 
and  long  kept  in  confinement,  but,  no  sufficient  evidence 
being  obtainable,  were  eventually  released.  Some  of  the 
local  authorities,  however,  had  become  suspicious  of  the 
Doukhobdrs;  and  in  February  1816,  we  hear  of  a  priest 
of  the  Russo-Greek  Church  being  sent  to  visit  them. 
Father  Nalfmsky's  visit  was,  however,  a  failure.  The 
night  he  arrived  he  got  drunk,  misbehaved  himself,  and 
fought.  For  this  he  was  ultimately  sentenced  to  four 
months'  confinement  in  a  monastery.  On  July  19  of 
the  same  year,  Kapoustin  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of 
perverting  the  Orthodox  to  his  own  heresy.  He  was  at 
this  time  seventy-three  years  of  age,  and  had  been  for 
some  months  in  bad  health.  According  to  a  petition 
presented  to  the  Emperor  by  the  Doukhobdrs,  Kapoustin, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  very  ill,  was  severely 
questioned,  and  pressure  was  used  to  induce  him  to  admit 
the  charges  against  him.  In  reply  to  his  inquiry, 
“  Whom  have  I  perverted  ?  ”  no  satisfactory  witnesses 
were  forthcoming ;  but  he  was,  nevertheless,  sent  back  to 
prison,  where,  in  spite  of  his  age  and  state  of  health,  he 
was  left  in  a  neglected  condition  until  one  of  the  Dou¬ 
khobdrs  obtained  permission  to  attend  on  him.  The 
petition  goes  on  to  say  that,  hearing  that  Langeron,  the 
Military  Governor  of  Kherson,  was  in  the  neighbourhood, 


DOUKHOBOll  HISTORY 


137 


the  Doukhobors  sent  a  deputation  to  ask  for  redress. 
Langeron,  they  assert,  received  them  roughly,  and  shouted 
at  them:  “You  know  neither  God  nor  the  Emperor; 
were  I  Emperor  I  would  shoot  you  all  down  with  cannon 
and  muskets.11 

Langeron  was  informed  from  Petersburg  that  “  His 
Imperial  Majesty  considers  that  measures  such  as  you 
have  taken  will  not  reform  the  Doukhobors,  but  will 
further  incense  them.11 

The  Civil  Governor  of  Taurida  reported  favourably 
of  them,  and  stated  that  it  appeared  on  investigation 
that  one  of  the  Doukhobors  who  had  informed  against 
the  sect,  was  a  man  who  had  been  repeatedly  guilty  of 
stealing,  for  which  offence  the  Doukhobdr  community  had 
decided  to  hand  him  over  as  a  recruit  to  the  army  (under 
the  laws  of  the  time  they  could  do  this),  but  he  had  escaped 
from  custody  and  run  away. 

Kapoustin  was  released  on  bail ;  and  the  Doukho- 
bdrs  declared  that  he  died  on  7th  November  1817,  at 
the  village  of  Goreloe,  and  was  buried  next  day.  The 
authorities  sent  some  one  to  verify  this  statement.  The 
Doukhobors  all  stuck  to  their  story,  but  something 
arousing  suspicion,  the  body  was  disinterred,  and  found 
to  be  that  of  a  man  with  a  red  beard  and  moustaches, 
whereas  Kapoustin  was  clean-shaven  and  had  not  red 
hair.  A  second  inquiry  led  to  the  same  result ;  the 
evidence  of  the  Doukhobors  was  on  one  side  ;  the  evidence 
of  the  corpse  was  on  the  other.* 

*  I  have  followed  Livdnofs  account  (vol.  iv.  pages  334-5),  supported 
by  Novitsky.  Abr&mof,  in  a  readable  but  strongly  pro-Doukhobbr  article, 
in  Ot^tchestvenniya  Zaptiki,  1883,  argues  in  favour  of  the  supposition  that 
Kapoustin  really  died  in  1817.  Impressed  by  the  general  good  conduct 
of  the  Doukhobors,  Abr&mof  considers  that  when  they  came  into  conflict 


138 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Kapoustiu  recovered  from  his  illness,  and  seems  to 
have  lived  for  some  years  after  this.  One  of  Haxthausen's 
Mennonite  informants  declared  that  he  subsequently  dis¬ 
covered  the  cave  in  which  Kapoustin  spent  the  last  years 
of  his  life.  “  I  have  seen  it  myself, "  says  Haxthausen. 
“  A  small  fissure,  probably  at  one  time  closed  by  a  door, 
leads  from  the  bank  by  a  zigzag  passage  into  a  kind  of 
chamber  in  the  rock,  in  which  stood  a  bedstead  and  a 
stove;  light  was  admitted  into  the  cave  by  a  wooden  tube 
running  into  the  open  air  and  concealed  by  bushes/' 

To  return,  however,  to  the  conflict  between  Langeron 
and  the  Doukhobors.  The  former  stated  his  opinion  that 
the  Doukhobors  were  not  Christian  sectarians,  but 
people  who  had  no  religion  whatever,  “having  neither 
churches  nor  priests,  nor  admitting  the  Sacraments," 
and  he  was  very  indignant  with  them  for  reporting  his 
conduct  to  the  Emperor  in  their  petition,  and  denied 
that  he  had  said  he  would  like  to  “  shoot  them  down 
with  cannons  and  muskets,"  for  which  unjust  accusation 
he  demanded  full  satisfaction.  In  reply  to  this,  Alex¬ 
ander  I.  reminded  him  that,  “  In  accordance  with  the 
rules  of  the  Christian  religion,  one  must  forgive  one's 
neighbour  every  injury." 

To  understand  the  kindly  consideration  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  received  from  the  Government  in  Petersburg  (if 
not  from  the  provincial  authorities)  one  should  note  that 
Kozodavlef,  then  Minister  of  the  Interior,  belonged  to  an 
exceedingly  enlightened  and  humane  set  of  men  ;  he  was 
both  a  Freemason  and  a  member  of  the  Bible  Society,  in 
which  latter  Society  many  Molokans  were  fellow-members 

with  the  officials  it  was  always  the  fault  of  the  latter,  and  that  Doukho- 
bbr  statements  can  be  taken  as  good  evidence,  while  official  accounts  may 
be  neglected. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


139 


with  him.  (The  Molokans  and  the  Doukhobors  were  at 
that  time  classed  together  as  twin  sects,  though,  as  we 
have  seen,  there  really  exists  a  very  fundamental  difference 
between  them.) 

The  Doukhobors  well  understood  the  strength  of  their 
position,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  petition  vigorously, 
even  against  an  edict  issued  by  the  Emperor  himself. 
The  ukase  of  9th  December  1816,  by  which  the  Doukho¬ 
bors  were  transferred  from  the  control  of  the  Minister  of 
Police  (as  an  heretical  sect)  to  that  of  the  Minister  of  the 
Interior  (on  an  equality  with  foreign  Colonists)  conferred 
an  advantage  upon  them  ;  but  it  contained  one  thing  they 
did  not  like,  namely,  it  decreed  that  instead  of  being 
called  Doukhobors,  they  were  to  be  designated  “  Melitopol 
Colonists.”  Now  the  Doukhobors,  as  we  have  seen, 
especially  since  they  had  achieved  a  position  of  semi¬ 
independence,  had  come  to  consider  themselves  a  “  chosen 
people,”  and  they  did  not  wish  to  be  confused  or  placed 
on  an  equality  with  “  Chaldeans,”  or  to  lose  the  nationality 
which  they  considered  they  had  already  formed.  More¬ 
over,  they  were,  no  doubt,  strongly  moved  by  the  recent 
ill-treatment  of  their  leader  Kapoustin,  and  were  quite 
in  a  mood  to  show  their  teeth.  So  they  presented  a 
petition  to  the  “  Most  August  Monarch,”  in  which  they 
remarked  that  all  their  communities  “having  listened  to 
the  order,  and  not  wishing  to  lose  the  name  of  Doukho¬ 
bors,  earned  with  the  blood  of  their  forefathers  (as  Christ 
the  Redeemer  said :  ‘  I  have  suffered  for  you,  and  have 
shown  you  an  example,  that  you  might  tread  in  my  foot¬ 
steps,  and  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  exalted 
above  the  nations  1 ) ;  by  agreement  of  all  eight  villages, 
have  submitted  to  the  Government  in  writing  our  affirma¬ 
tions  signed  by  all  the  inhabitants,  to  the  effect  that  they 


140 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


do  not  wish  to  change  their  name  of  Doukhobdrs,  but 
unanimously  affirm  that  if  our  name  of  Doukhobdrs  should 
be  changed,  we  are  all  ready,  without  considering  either 
our  children  or  the  property  we  have  accumulated,  to 
shed  our  blood  for  the  sake  of  the  Doukhobdr  name,  as 
we  shed  it  before  our  emancipation.  Look,  most  merciful 
Lord  and  Emperor,  on  our  innocent  sufferings  for  the 
word  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  granted  to  us 
eternal  life,  and  consent  in  accord  with  the  words  of  our 
Saviour,  4  for  his  mercy  and  truth  endureth  for  ever,’  to 
confirm  to  us  as  heretofore  the  name  of  Doukhobdrs.” 

Their  wishes  were  complied  with  in  so  far  that  they 
were  allowed  to  continue  to  call  themselves  Doukhobdrs. 
In  official  documents  issued  to  them,  they  were  to  be 
called  44  Doukhobdrs  of  the  Melitopol  Colony.1’ 

Before  the  century  was  out,  a  time  came  when  a  Leader 
of  their  own  requested  them  to  change  the  name  Doukho¬ 
bdr  for  that  of  the  44  Universal  Community  of  Christian 
Brotherhood.”  Then  they  agreed  to  do  so  without  a 
murmur,  and  without  either  quoting  or  inventing  a  single 
text.  But  that  proposal  came  from  a  ruler  of  their  own, 
and  not  from  what  they  regarded  as  a  foreign  authority. 

In  1819  those  excellent  men  William  Allen  and 
Stephen  Grellet,  the  Quakers,  visited  the  Doukhobdrs  at 
the  Milky  Waters.  As  they  were  close  observers  of  many 
sects,  and  (for  all  their  own  strongly  Evangelical  predilec¬ 
tions)  had  a  kindly  discernment  of  the  spiritual  conditions 
of  those  they  met,  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  impression 
the  Doukhobdrs  made  on  them. 

William  Allen  writes  :  44  Fifth  Month ,  29th. —  ...  In 
the  evening,  Contineas  and  our  host  accompanied  us  a 
distance  of  about  five  versts,  to  Terpania  (Terpenie),  a 
village  where  there  is  a  settlement  of  one  of  the  sects  of 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


141 


the  Duhobortsi.  We  crossed  the  Moloshnia  River  (Milky 
Waters),  and  on  our  arrival  were  conducted  to  the  house 
where  they  are  in  the  practice  of  meeting  on  public 
occasions,  and  where  we  found  several  of  the  fraternity. 
They  were  well  dressed  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  but  there  was  something  in  their  countenances 
which  I  did  not  quite  like.  We  had  some  conversation 
through  Contineas,  and  informed  them  that  we  had  heard 
in  England  of  the  persecution  they  had  endured,  and  also 
of  the  humane  interposition  of  the  Emperor,  on  their 
behalf ;  that  while  we  had  felt  sympathy  for  them  in 
their  sufferings,  we  wished  to  know  from  themselves  what 
were  their  religious  principles.  It  soon  appeared,  however, 
that  they  have  no  fixed  principles ;  there  was  a  studied 
evasion  in  their  answers,  and  though  they  readily  quoted 
texts,  it  is  plain  they  do  not  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  and  have  some  very  erroneous  notions.  I  was 
anxious  to  ascertain  their  belief  respecting  our  Saviour, 
but  could  learn  nothing  satisfactory.  Stephen  (Grellet) 
endeavoured,  through  Contineas,  to  convince  them  of  their 
errors  on  some  points,  but  they  appear  in  a  very  dark 
state ;  they  have  driven  out  from  among  them  all  those 
persons  called  Duhobortsi,  who  receive  Scriptural  truth, 
and  who  are  of  the  class  with  whom  we  were  so  much 
pleased  at  Ekaterinoslaf.  My  spirit  was  greatly  affected, 
and  I  came  away  from  them  much  depressed.” 

“The  following  morning  (First-day)  was  also  spent 
with  the  Duhobortsi ;  a  considerable  number  attended 
what  they  called  their  worship,  but  some  of  their  ceremonies 
were  painful  to  witness.  They  manifested  great  ignorance 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  and  the  interview  did  not  prove 
more  satisfactory  than  that  on  the  preceding  day.” 

Stephen  Grellet  writes:  “29  th  of  Fifth  Month. — This 


142 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


afternoon  vve  went  to  the  principal  village  of  the  Duho- 
bortsi ;  they  inhabit  several  others  near.  W e  went  to  the 
abode  of  the  chief  man  among  them.  He  is  ninety  years 
old,  nearly  blind,  but  very  active  in  body  and  mind.  He 
appears  to  be  a  robust,  strong  man.  Fourteen  others  of 
their  elders  or  chief  men  were  with  him.  We  had  a  long 
conference  with  them.  He  was  the  chief  speaker.  We 
found  him  very  evasive  in  several  of  his  answers  to  our 
inquiries.  They,  however,  stated  unequivocally  that  they 
do  not  believe  in  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  They 
look  upon  Jesus  Christ  in  no  other  light  than  that  of  a 
good  man.  They  therefore  have  no  confidence  in  Him  as 
a  Saviour  from  sin.  They  say  that  they  believe  that  there 
is  a  spirit  in  man  to  teach  and  lead  him  in  the  right  way, 
and  in  support  of  this  they  were  fluent  in  the  quotation  of 
Scripture  texts,  which  they  teach  to  their  children ;  but 
they  will  not  allow  any  of  their  people  to  have  a  Bible 
among  them.  We  inquired  about  their  mode  of  worship. 
They  said  they  met  together  to  sing  some  of  the  Psalms 
of  David.  Respecting  their  manner  of  solemnizing  their 
marriages,  they  declined  giving  an  answer;  but  a  very 
favourite  reply  to  some  of  our  questions  was,  “  The  letter 
killeth,  but  the  Spirit  giveth  life.”  We  found,  however, 
that  they  have  no  stated  times  for  their  meetings  for 
worship  ;  but  that  to-morrow,  which  is  First-day,  they 
intend  to  have  one,  and  this,  they  said  we  might  attend, 
and  see  for  ourselves.  We  left  them  with  heavy  hearts, 
and  returned  to  Altona.” 

66  First-day ,  30th. — I  had  a  sleepless  night ;  my  mind 
being  under  great  weight  of  exercise  for  the  Duhobortsi. 
I  felt  much  for  these  people,  thus  darkened  by  their 
leaders,  and  I  did  not  apprehend  that  I  should  stand 
acquitted  in  the  Divine  sight,  without  seeking  for  an 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


143 


opportunity  to  expostulate  with  them,  and  to  proclaim 
that  salvation  which  comes  by  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  We  rode 
again  to  their  village  in  the  morning.  .  .  .  The  Duhobortsi 
collected,  at  about  ten  o’clock,  on  a  spacious  spot  of  ground 
out-of-doors.  They  all  stood,  forming  a  large  circle ;  all 
the  men  on  the  left  hand  of  the  old  man,  and  the  women 
on  his  right ;  the  children  of  both  sexes  formed  the  opposite 
side  of  the  circle ;  they  were  all  cleanly  dressed ;  an  old 
woman  was  next  to  the  old  man  ;  she  began  by  singing 
what  they  call  a  psalm  ;  the  other  women  joined  in  it ; 
then  the  man  next  the  old  man,  taking  him  by  the  hand, 
stepped  in  front  of  him,  each  bowed  down  very  low  to  one 
another  three  times,  and  then  twice  to  the  women,  who 
returned  the  salute  ;  that  man  resuming  his  place,  the  one 
next  to  him  performed  the  same  ceremony  to  the  old  man, 
and  to  the  women ;  then,  by  turns,  all  the  others,  even  the 
boys,  came  and  kissed  three  times  the  one  in  the  circle 
above  him,  instead  of  bowing.  When  the  men  and  boys 
had  accomplished  this,  the  women  did  the  same  to  each 
other ;  then  the  girls  ;  the  singing  continuing  the  whole 
time.  It  took  them  nearly  an  hour  to  perform  this  round 
of  bowing  and  kissing ;  then  the  old  woman,  in  a  fluent 
manner,  uttered  what  they  called  a  prayer,  and  their 
worship  concluded  ;  but  no  seriousness  appeared  over  them 
at  any  time.  Oh,  how  was  my  soul  bowed  before  the  Lord, 
earnestly  craving  that  he  would  touch  their  hearts  by  his 
power  and  love  !  I  felt  also  much  towards  the  young 
people.  I  embraced  the  opportunity  to  preach  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that. salvation  which  is  through  faith  in 
Him.  .  .  .  We  then  went  into  the  house  with  the  old  men  ; 
they  had  a  few  things  to  say,  but  not  to  any  more  satis¬ 
faction  than  yesterday.  We  left  them  with  heavy  hearts, 
and  returned  to  Altona.” 


144 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Again,  later  on,  he  noted  :  “  Simferopol ,  5th  of  Sixth 
Month. —  .  .  .  One  of  the  Malakans  (Moloksens)  saying  that 
he  was  formerly  among  the  Duhobortsi,  I  inquired  of  him 
how  he  had  become  convinced  of  his  errors  He  answered 
with  great  energy,  “  I  had  the  Bible  put  into  my  hands ; 
I  read  it,  and  is  it  possible  to  read  the  Bible  and  not  be 
convinced  of  the  great  errors  under  which  I  was  ?  ” 

The  names  of  the  villages  which  at  this  time  made 
up  the  Doukhobdr  settlement  —  Terpenie  (Patience), 
Bogdanovka  (God’s  Gift),  Troitzkoe  (of  the  Trinity), 
Novospaskaya  (New  Salvation),  Tambovka,  Rodionovka, 
Efremovka,  Kirilovka,  and  Goreloe — were  retained  in  their 
subsequent  migrations.  The  villages  were  all  well  situated 
on  the  right  bank  near  the  estuary  of  the  Milky  Waters. 
The  settlement  was  not  destined  to  increase  much  after 
this.  Already  in  April  1817,  Count  Araktcheyef  (who 
has  left  an  evil  mark  on  the  later  years  of  Alexander’s 
reign)  announced  to  the  Council  of  Ministers  that  the 
Emperor  had  decided  not  to  allow  further  migrations  of 
Doukhobdrs  to  the  Milky  Waters.  This  decision  was, 
however,  not  strictly  adhered  to;  and  when,  in  1818, 
Alexander  I.  visited  the  Doukhobdrs,  and  spent  a  night 
in  64  Zion,”  they  took  the  opportunity  to  petition  that 
certain  of  their  exiled  co-religionists  should  be  allowed  to 
join  them.  Their  petition  received  attention.  It  was 
found,  on  inquiry,  that  some  Doukhobdrs  had  been  knouted 
and  sent  to  Siberia  for  no  other  offence  than  their  religion. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  occasional  small  migrations  to  the 
Milky  Walters  continued  till  almost  the  end  of  Alexander’s 
reign. 

We  hear  of  no  refusals  of  army  service  on  the  part 
of  Kapoustin’s  Doukhobdrs  at  this  time ;  but  from 
Government  enactments  we  learn  that  in  1834  it  was 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


145 


legal  for  the  Doukhobbrs  of  the  Milky  Waters  to  hire 
Mohammedans  of  the  Province  of  Taurida  to  take  their 
places  as  recruits.  In  1839  they  were  still  allowed  to  hire 
substitutes  from  among  their  own  sect  as  well  as  from 
among  the  Molokans. 

We  are  now  approaching  the  darkest  days  of  Dou¬ 
khobbr  history.  In  Kolesnikof  they  had  had  a  teacher  of 
unusually  high  character.  In  Pobirohin  and  Kapoustin 
they  had  leaders  of  ability  ;  but  the  evil  that  follows  a 
one-man  power,  namely,  the  impossibility  of  securing  a 
succession  of  good  or  capable  men,  had  now  overtaken 
them ;  and  the  spiritual  impoverishment  that  must  have 
resulted  from  the  gross  superstition  introduced  to  gratify 
the  vanity  or  consolidate  the  authority  of  their  Leaders,  no 
doubt  increased  the  danger  of  the  situation.  About  this, 
as  about  many  parts  of  Doukhobbr  history,  controversy 
exists.  Some  writers  find  it  impossible  to  believe  that 
people  who,  in  general,  were  so  industrious  and  well- 
behaved  could,  at  times,  behave  so  badly.  The  case  for 
the  other  side  is  that  if  one  rejects  the  evidence  pointing 
to  the . Doukhobbr  belief  in  the  divinity  of  their  Leaders 
and  to  the  evil  this  occasioned,  the  most  remarkable 
occurrences  in  Doukhobbr  history  become  absolutely  unin¬ 
telligible,  whereas,  when  once  this  key  to  the  situation  is 
grasped,  all  that  happened  at  the  Milky  Waters,  in  the 
Caucasus,  and  finally  in  Canada,  becomes  quite  intelligible. 

This  is  Haxthausen’s  account  of  what  now  occurred  : 

“  After  the  death  of  Kapoustin,  the  office  of  Christ 
passed  to  his  son.  He  (Kapoustin)  is  said  to  have  assured 
his  people  that  the  soul  of  Christ  had  the  power  of  uniting 
itself  with  any  human  body  it  pleased,  and  that  it  would 
establish  itself  in  the  body  of  his  son.” 

The  son  and  heir  of  Savely  Kapoustin  was  Vasily 

L 


146 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Kalmikof  (1792-1832),  and  his  son  and  heir  was  Ilaridn 
Kalmikof  (1816-41).  Neither  of  them  inherited  Kapo  us  tin's 
genius.  They  fell  into  evil  practices  and  became  drunkards. 

The  thirty  Elders  and  the  twelve  Apostles,  ruling  in 
Vasily  Kalmikof1  s  name,  now  assumed  power.  Haxthausen 
says  :  44  The  Council  of  Elders  constituted  itself  a  terrible 
inquisitional  tribunal.  The  principle,  4  Whoso  denies  his 
God  shall  perish  by  the  sword,1  was  interpreted  according 
to  their  caprice  ;  the  House  of  Justice  was  called  4  Paradise 
and  Torture’;  the  place  of  execution  was  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Milky  Waters.  A  mere  suspicion  of  treachery  was 
punished  with  torture  and  death.  Within  a  few  years 
some  four  hundred  *  people  disappeared,  leaving  scarcely  a 
trace  behind.  An  investigation  by  the  authorities,  too  late 
to  prevent  the  mischief,  revealed  a  frightful  state  of  things  : 
bodies  were  found  buried  alive,  and  many  mutilated.  The 
investigation,  which  was  commenced  in  1834,  terminated 
in  1839.  The  Emperor  (Nicholas  I.)  decided  that  the  whole 
body  of  the  Doukhobors  at  the  Milky  Waters  should  be 
transported  to  the  Caucasus,  there  to  be  parcelled  out  or 
placed  under  strict  surveillance ;  those  only  who  were  will¬ 
ing  to  join  the  Orthodox  Church  being  permitted  to  remain 
at  Milky  Waters.’1 

The  order  was  communicated  to  the  people  by  a  pro¬ 
clamation  from  the  Governor-General,  Count  Vorontsof,  in 
which  he  said — 

*  If,  out  of  a  population  of  four  thousand  people,  anything  like  four 
hundred  were  made  away  with  (as  Haxthausen  asserts),  a  veritable  reign  of 
terror  must  have  existed.  In  the  English  translation  of  his  work  the  four 
is  modified  to  two  hundred  (whether  athis  request  I  do  not  know).  Novitsky 
says,  “  If  one  doubts  the  number  of  Doukhobors  reported  to  have  been 
murdered,  one  cannot,  at  any  rate,  reject  the  results  of  the  judicial  inquiry. 
In  spite  of  all  their  obstinacy  and  capacity  to  conceal  secret  crimes 
twenty-one  murders  were  disclosed.  Corpses  were  found  that  had  been 
buried  alive,  others  decapitated  and  mutilated.” 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


147 


44  In  the  name  of  your  religion,  and  by  the  command  of 
your  pretended  teachers,  you  put  men  to  death,  treating 
them  cruelly  .  .  .  concealing  crimes  committed  by  your 
brethren,  everywhere  opposing  disobedience  and  contempt 
to  the  Government.  These  things,  contrary  to  all  the 
laws  of  God  and  man,  many  of  your  brethren  knew,  and, 
instead  of  giving  information  of  them  to  the  Government, 
they  endeavoured  to  conceal  them.  Many  are  still  in 
custody  for  their  conduct,  awaiting  the  just  punishment  of 
their  misdeeds.1”’ 

Those  most  implicated,  together  with  their  families,  in 
all  eight  hundred  individuals,  were  moved  in  1841  to  the 
Caucasus ;  Ilarion  Kalmikof  with  his  family  being  of  the 
number.  In  1842  eight  hundred  more  were  transported, 
and  in  1843  another  nine  hundred.  In  all,  more  than 
four  thousand  people  went  from  the  Milky  Waters  to  the 
Caucasus.  At  first  only  twenty-seven  preferred  to  remain 
in  their  former  homes,  at  the  cost  of  having  to  be  con¬ 
verted  to  the  Orthodox  Russian  Church ;  but  others 
returned  later  on,  on  finding  how  difficult  life  in  the 
Caucasus  was  likely  to  prove. 

Haxthausen  tells  of  having  visited  the  empty  house  in 
which  Kapoustin  had  lived.  44  The  house  consisted  of  two 
stories,  the  upper  of  which  had  a  large  gallery  on  one  side, 
where,  on  certain  days,  when  all  the  people  were  assembled 
below,  Kapoustin  appeared  ;  then  they  all  fell  down  upon 
their  knees  and  worshipped  him.11  Below  was  a  large  dark 
hall,  without  windows,  which  is  said  to  have  been  the  place 
where  the  mysteries  were  celebrated,  and  where,  Haxthausen 
says,  the  rulers  44  gave  themselves  up  to  the  most  frightful 
orgies.11  Another  informant  states  that  at  this  time  the 
women  singers  living  in  the  Orphans1  Home  crowded  out 
the  old  people  who  had  lived  there.  But  the  whole 


148  A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

matter  is  very  obscure,  and  the  evidence  scanty  and  not 
first-rate. 

Anna  Filibert,  in  the  Otetcliestvenniya  Zapiski  of  June 
1870,  considers  that  the  Doukhobdrs  were  innocent,*  and 
that  the  fault  was  all  on  the  side  of  the  Russian  authorities. 
She  says,  “  Suddenly,  in  1839,  an  unfriendly  head  of  the 
local  police,”  who  had  been  accustomed  to  make  a  profit 
out  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  and  who  failed  to  get  what  he 
wanted,  “accused  them  of  various  crimes  of  which  they, 
according  to  the  statements  of  old  inhabitants  of  those 
parts,  were  not  at  all  guilty.  Instead  of  investigating 
these  accusations,  and,  in  case  of  real  crimes  having  been 
committed,  punishing  only  the  guilty,  an  order  followed, 
condemning  all  the  Doukhobdrs  to  migrate  to  the 
Caucasus.” 

This  statement  has  been  accepted  as  sufficient,  even  by 
so  intelligent  a  writer  as  Stepniak.  But  let  us  examine  it. 
Anna  Filibert  herself  evidently  knew  little  about  the  matter, 
or  she  would  not  say  the  accusation  was  “  suddenly  ”  made 
in  1839,  ignoring  the  fact  that  investigations  and  trials 
went  on  from  1834  to  1839;  nor  would  she,  in  another 
place,  have  put  the  number  who  migrated  from  the  Milky 
Waters  at  “ten  or  twelve  thousand,”  the  total  number  of 
Doukhobdrs  at  the  Milky  Waters  having  never  been  much 
over  four  thousand.  Again,  her  remark  that  the  Govern¬ 
ment  should  only  have  punished  those  who  were  proved  to 
have  committed  crimes,  ignores  Count  VorontsoFs  com¬ 
plaint  that  the  Doukhobdrs  concealed  the  crimes  of  their 
co-sectarians.  As  the  accounts  of  the  trials  have  never 

*  The  strong  tendency  people  have  to  take  a  side,  and  only  to  see  the 
facts  that  suit  that  side,  comes  out  strongly  in  the  controversy  about  the 
Doukhobdrs.  Why  need  any  one  suppose  that  the  Doukhobdrs  were  either 
all  white  or  all  black,  though  the  rest  of  humanity  are  various  shades 
of  grey  ? 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


149 


been  published,  one  cannot  speak  with  certainty ;  but  it  is 
highly  probable  that  the  Government  were  unable  satis¬ 
factorily  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  the  affair.  A  conspiracy 
of  silence  is  just  the  kind  of  resistance  in  which  Doukhobdrs 
would  excel.  Lastly,  what  is  the  value  of  the  evidence 
of  the  “  old  inhabitants  ”  adduced  ?  The  article  appeared 
thirty  years  after  the  event.  But  even  had  it  been  written 
at  the  time,  what  would  people  not  belonging  to  the  sect 
be  likely  to  know  of  crimes  committed  by  the  Elders  of 
so  secretive  and  exclusive  a  people  as  the  Doukhobdrs  ? 
The  defence  is  most  flimsy  and  unconvincing  !  It  should 
also  be  noticed  that  whereas  the  Doukhobdrs  have  at  other 
times  stood  up  to  the  Russian  Government  with  great 
courage  and  tenacity,  they,  on  this  occasion,  submitted  in 
a  way  suggesting  that  they  had  lost  confidence  in  them¬ 
selves  and  in  their  Leader.* 

That  there  may  have  been  misconduct  on  the  part  of 
the  Russian  officials  as  well  as  among  the  Doukhobdrs,  is 
probable  enough  :  the  whole  of  the  property  of  the  Orphans’ 
Home  is  said  to  have  mysteriously  disappeared  after  it 
had  been  taken  charge  of  by  the  officials. 

Ilaridn  Kalmikdf  died  soon  after  the  migration.  It  is 
said  that  after  Kapoustin’s  death,  the  Doukhobdrs  were 
in  such  a  hurry  to  raise  up  seed  to  inherit  his  divinity, 
that  they  supplied  Ilaridn,  when  he  was  scarcely  sixteen, 
with  a  succession  of  six  young  women  by  whom  he  might 
have  offspring.  He  left  two  young  sons,  on  one  of  whom, 
at  the  age  of  thirty,  the  Doukhobdrs  hoped  the  soul  of 
Jesus  would  descend.  Meanwhile,  after  the  death  of 


*  The  Doukhobors  now  in  Canada  sometimes  speak  of  the  expulsion 
from  the  Milky  Waters  as  an  instance  of  persecution  suffered  for  their 
faith,  but  occasionally  one  or  another  of  them  admits  that  the  expulsion 
was  a  result  of  misdoings  committed  among  them. 


150 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Ilarion,  an  Elder  called  Lydvoushka  directed  affairs  for  a 
time.  He  also,  however,  got  into  trouble  with  the  Russian 
authorities,  and  was  banished  to  Siberia.  Eventually,  Peter 
Kalmikof,  one  of  Ilarion’s  sons,  became  Leader,  and  appears 
to  have  reigned  peacefully,  the  Community  increasing  in 
prosperity  under  his  rule.  He  died  in  1864,  when  still 
a  young  man.  In  reply  to  the  appeal  of  those  around 
him,  “  In  whose  charge  are  you  leaving  us,  Father  ?”  he 
indicated  his  wife,  Loukeriya,  and  replied,  “  I  leave  you  to 
my  cuckoo  here ;  she  will  take  my  place,  but  after  her  the 
Holy  Spirit  will  abide  with  you  no  more.” 

Loukeriya  (as  often  occurs  with  women  rulers  among 
Eastern  nations)  proved  an  exceptionally  good  sovereign, 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  Community  continued  to  increase. 
In  her  time  they  spread  out  and  formed  settlements  in  the 
provinces  of  Tiflis,  Kars,  and  Elizavetpdl ;  having  been 
invited  by  the  authorities,  and  induced  by  special  privi¬ 
leges,  to  take  part  in  the  colonization  of  districts  added  to 
the  Russian  Empire  after  the  war  with  Turkey  in  1877-78. 
During  that  war  the  Doukhobdrs  rendered  valuable  service 
to  the  transport  department  of  the  army. 

V.  D.  Bontch-Brouevitch,  who  has  paid  great  attention 
to  the  matter,  and  to  whom  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
Doukhobdrs  are  under  obligations  for  the  information  he 

O 

has  published,  estimates  the  number  of  the  Doukhobdrs, 
after  Loukeriya’s  reign,  as  follows  : — 

In  two  different  parts  of  the  Tiflis  Government,  nearly  12,000 
In  Kars  Government,  about  ...  ...  ...  ...  5,000 

In  Elizavetpol  Government,  about  ...  ...  ...  4,000 

Total  of  Doukhobdrs  in  the  Caucasus,  about  . 21,000 

A  new  Orphans’  Home  had  been  established,  and 
possessed  a  large  capital,  besides  two  houses  and  much 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


151 


land  and  cattle.  What  the  amount  of  this  capital  may 
have  been  is  not  known,  for  the  rulers  appear  to  have 
rendered  no  accounts  to  the  people. 

Loukeriya  died  in  1886,  and  of  what  occurred  after  her 
death  we  have  an  account  in  the  44  Confidential  Report  * 
from  the  Governor  of  Tiflis,”  Prince  Shervashidze,  dated 
7th  October  1895. 

After  statins  that  a  claimant  for  Doukhobdr  Leader- 
ship  might  rest  his  case  either  on  hereditary  right  or  on 
special,  miraculous  proofs  of  his  fitness,  he  proceeds  to 
treat  of  the  situation  that  occurred  after  the  death  of 
Loukeriya  Kalmikova. 

44  Under  the  circumstances  described,  it  seemed  that 
there  was  no  possibility  of  an  heir  or  successor  to 
Kalmikdva’s  power  appearing;  but,  to  the  surprise  of 
the  local  authorities,  a  suitable  claimant  promptly  appeared 
in  the  person  of  a  certain  Peter  Verigin,  a  native  of  the 
village  of  Slavyanki  in  the  Government  of  Elizavetpdl. 

44  The  said  Verigin,  quite  a  young  Doukhobdr,  literate, 
unprincipled,  and  unusually  handsome,  had,  during  the 
last  years  of  Loukeriya  Kalmikdva’s  life,  been  constantly 
in  attendance  upon  her ;  and  by  his  turbulent  character, 
arrogance,  and  efforts  to  raise  himself  above  others,  had 
provoked  against  himself  the  relations  and  entourage  of 
Loukeriya,  as  well  as  the  influential  members  of  the  village 
of  Goreloe,  where  the  Orphans’  Home  was  situated,  and 
where  the  Head  of  the  sect  dwelt.  In.  other  words,  Peter 

*  The  correctness  of  Prince  Shervaslndze’s  Report  has  been  challenged 
by  Vladimir  Tchertkoff.  I  had  an  opportunity  not  long  ago  of  reading 
the  Report  to  a  Doukhobdr,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Canada.  Knowing 
how  secretive  they  are  on  all  such  matters,  I  expected  him  to  reject  the 
Report  in  toto.  To  my  surprise,  he  confirmed  much  of  it ;  and,  though  he 
demurred  at  the  account  of  Peter  Verigin’s  birth,  he  expressly  admitted 
that  Veiigin  belonged  to  the  reigning  dynasty. 


152 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Verigin  provoked  against  himself  the  most  influential 
members  of  the  sect.  But,  in  the  villages  at  a  distance 
from  Goreloe,  amid  the  ignorant  mass  of  Doukhobdrs — 
educated  in  the  absurd  traditional  belief  in  the  super¬ 
natural  power  of  the  Kalmikdfs — rumours  (floated  both 
by  Verigin  himself  and  by  his  numerous  relations)  began 
to  circulate,  even  during  Loukeriya’s  life,  which  gave  the 
managers  of  the  Orphans’  Home  cause  for  uneasiness,  and 
which  were  to  the  effect  that  this  well-built,  handsome, 
young  man  was  of  no  common  origin,  but  was  the  son  of 
the  late  Peter  Kalmikof — the  fruit  of  a  visit  he  paid,  not 
long  before  his  death,  to  Verigin’s  family  in  the  village  of 
Slavyanki ;  and  that  this  was  the  explanation  of  his 
peculiar  nearness  to  Loukeriya,  who  kept  him  in  attendance, 
not  as  a  courtier,  but  as  an  heir,  preparing  him,  by  fre¬ 
quent  conversations  and  directions,  for  the  exalted  position 
due  to  his  race,  to  the  joy  and  happiness  of  all  true- 
believing  Doukhobdrs ;  who,  as  a  result  of  their  education 
and  the  traditions  of  their  sect,  could  not  conceive  of 
the  possibility  of  doing  without  some  one  to  replace 
Loukeriya,  and  without  having  a  God-Man  at  the  head 
of  the  sect ;  and  who,  therefore,  accepted  with  credulity  a 
rumour  which  flattered  their  imagination.  As  a  result  of 
this,  the  conviction  of  the  exalted,  divine  destiny  of  Peter 
Verigin  had  become  so  confirmed  in  the  hearts  of  the 
sectarians  towards  the  end  of  1886,'  that,  soon  after  the 
death  of  Loukeriya  Kalmikova,  it  was  quite  possible  for 
him  to  advance  his  pretensions. 

“Meeting  with  strong  opposition  from  the  influential 
men  of  the  village  of  Goreloe,  who  knew  him  well,  and 
with  the  object  of  breaking  down  their  resistance  and 
definitely  dispelling  doubts  that  might  arise  as  to  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  Verigin  set  out  for  his  native  village 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


153 

of  Slavyanki.  Here,  in  solemn  gathering,  before  all  the 
people,  his  mother,  Anastasya,  submissively  announced  that 
her  son  Peter  was  begotten  not  by  her  husband  Vasily 
Verigin,  but  by  Peter  Kalmikdf,  who,  to  the  great  joy  of 
all  her  family,  had  honoured  her  by  his  holy  attentions  at 
the  time  of  his  last  visit  to  the  village  of  Slavyanki ;  and 
that  this  great  secret  was  well  known  to  Loukeriya 
Kalmikdva,  who  had  only  awaited  Peter’s  coming  of  age 
in  order,  during  her  own  lifetime,  to  hand  over  to  him  the 
inheritance  of  his  ancestors.  After  these  words,  both  she 
and  her  husband  fell  at  Peter’s  feet,  and  when  they  had 
done  so,  all  the  people  imitated  them.  Next  followed  the 
administration  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Verigin,  and 
the  signing  of  attestations  of  allegiance.  In  this  way  the 
new  Leader’s  right  of  succession  and  connection  with  the 
holy  race  were  established,  so  that  it  was  unnecessary  for 
him  to  prove  his  divine  origin  by  any  miracles,  his  title 
being  acknowledged  on  the  strength  of  his  birth. 

“  After  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Slavyanki, 
and  about  seven-tenths  of  all  the  Doukhobdr  population 
in  the  three  Governments  (Tiflis,  Kars,  and  Elizavetpdl,) 
swore  allegiance  to  Verigin  and  signed  attestation  papers, 
and,  with  invincible  faith  in  the  infallibility  of  their 
Leader,  blindly  submitted  their  fate  into  his  hands.” 

Not  to  rely  too  much  on  an  official  account,  I  will  add 
the  account  given  by  a  Russian  sectarian,  who  had  been 
banished  to  the  Caucasus  and  was  living  among  the  Dou- 
khobdrs  when  Loukeriya  died.  This  is  his  version — 

“  Loukeriya  Kalmikdva  took  Verigin  as  a  very  young 
man,  separating  him  from  his  wife  and  completely  domi¬ 
nating  him.  He  could  do  nothing  without  her  permission. 
A  few  days  before  her  death  she  went  to  Tiflis,  taking 
Verigin  with  her.  He,  without  her  permission,  telegraphed 


154 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


to  his  wife  to  meet  him  there.  His  wife,  receiving  his 
summons,  went  to  Tiflis.  When  Verigin  was  going  out  to 
see  her,  Kalmikova,  stopping  him,  asked  where  he  was 
going.  He  replied,  4  To  see  my  wife,  who  is  also  in  Tiflis.1 
4  Oh,1  said  Kalmikova,  4  tell  her  to  come  here.1  Verigina 
came.  4  Who  allowed  you  to  come  to  Tiflis  ? 1  demanded 
Kalmikova.  4  Peter  telegraphed  me,1  replied  Verigina. 
*  And  I  suppose  you  gave  her  permission  ? 1  said  Kalmi- 
kova,  turning  to  Verigin  in  a  fury ;  and,  threatening  him, 
she  fell  down  in  a  fit.  She  was  carried  quickly  to  Gore- 
lovka,  the  head  village,  and  died  there  two  days  later, 
refusing  to  see  Peter  or  to  recognize  him  as  her  successor. 
This  led  the  leading  Gorelovka  people  to  nominate  her 
brother  as  manager  of  the  Communal  property  she  had 
left  at  the  Orphans1  Home,  and  produced  the  split  that 
occurred  in  the  sect.11 

No  one  outside  the  sect  (and  probably  no  one  in  it 
either)  is  able  clearly  to  define  the  component  elements  of 
divine  incarnation,  hereditary  right,  tribal  expediency,  and 
personal  pushfulness,  that  go  towards  securing  Leadership 
to  one  particular  man.  But  apart  from  any  relationship 
Peter  Verigin  may  have  had  to  Peter  Kalmikdf,  he  was, 
through  his  mother,  a  nephew  of  Loukeriya. 

For  the  continuation  of  the  story  I  rely  partly  on 
Tebenkofs  article  in  the  fioiisskaya  Starina  of  1896. 
Though  written  from  the  Government  side,  his  statements 
in  the  main  fit  in  well  with  what  one  is  able  to  gather 
from  other  sources. 

The  situation  of  the  Doukhobdrs  at  this  time  was  that, 
surrounded  by  Mohammedans  and 
creeds  quite  foreign  to  their  own,  they  had  lost  all  thought 
of  proselytizing,  and  were  content  to  be  a  44  peculiar 
people,11  esteeming  themselves  superior  to  all  other  nations 


by  men  of  races  and 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


155 


and  religions.  Being  prosperous  and  unmolested,  their 
fanaticism  had  died  down.  They  made  no  objection  even 
to  conscription,  and  were  in  very  good  repute  with  the 
Russian  authorities. 

Under  Loukeriya’s  reign  the  head  men  of  the  village 
of  Goreloe,  the  seat  of  government  and  of  the  Orphans’ 
Home,  had  taken  considerable  part  in  the  management  of 
affairs,  and  had  become  accustomed  to  intercourse  with 
the  Russian  authorities.  They  were  well-to-do,  had  had 
their  outlook  on  life  much  broadened,  and  no  longer 
believed  that  their  salvation  depended  on  maintaining 
Doukhobbr  independence. 

To  find  themselves  suddenly  under  the  irresponsible 
authority  of  a  young  man  whom  they  looked  upon  as 
rather  a  scamp — and  all  because  of  a  superstition  in  which 
they  had  ceased  to  believe — was  more  than  they  could 
stand.  So,  swallowing  the  traditions  of  their  sect,  they 
appealed  to  the  Russian  law  courts  for  a  decision  award¬ 
ing  the  property  of  the  Orphans’  Home  to  their  custodv. 
This  “  first  appeal  of  the  Doukhobbrs,  in  fifty  years,  for 
Governmental  participation  in  their  Communal  affairs, 
caused  great  surprise,”  says  Prince  Shervashidze  in  the 
Report  above  referred  to.  The  form  in  which  the  Small 
Party  (as  they  were  called)  brought  their  case  before  the 
courts  was  that  of  a  claim  on  behalf  of  Michael  Goubanof, 
Loukeriya’s  brother,  to  inherit  her  property.  This  was 
a  legal  fiction,  and  was  treated  as  such  by  Goubanof,  for 
after  winning  his  case  he  continued  to  administer  the 
estate  as  the  public  property  of  the  sect,  or  rather  (since 
the  sect  had  now  split  in  two)  of  his  section  of  the  sect. 
The  usual  charge  of  bribery  is,  of  course,  advanced,  *  but 

*  More  definitely  than  usual,  for  in  the  Preface  to  the  Christchurch 
edition  of  Peter  Verigin’s  Letters ,  the  amount  of  the  bribe  is  given  as 


156 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


the  court  may  well  have  been  puzzled  to  whom  to  award 
the  property  under ’such  very  unusual  circumstances.  The 
appeal  of  the  Small  Party  explained  that  the  others 
wished  to  compel  them  “to  acknowledge  the  not-indicated- 
by-the-law  authority  of  this  Verigin,  calling  him  ‘Prophet’ 
and  ‘Tsar,’”  whereas  they,  the  Small  Party,  desired  “to 
remain  the  most  faithful  subjects  of  his  Imperial  Majesty 
our  most  merciful  sovereign.” 

Verigin,  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace,  was  banished  by 
“  administrative  order  ”  without  any  trial,  and  sent  to  live 
in  exile,  first  at  Shenkoursk  and  then  at  Kola,  and  then 
at  Shenkoursk  again,  both  places  being  in  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  Archangel.  Besides  Peter  Verigin  himself,  all  his 
brothers  and  several  other  prominent  adherents  of  his 
were  banished  to  Siberia  without  any  trial,  simply  by 
“  administrative  order.”  His  banishment  was  said  to  be 
for  five  years,  commencing  in  1887,  and  he  should  there¬ 
fore  have  been  released  in  1892.  Instead  of  being  then 
released,  however,  he  was  detained  for  a  further  term  ; 
and  this  was  an  immediate  cause  of  fresh  troubles  that 
occurred  in  the  sect. 

Early  in  1893  (before  his  banishment  to  Siberia), 
Verigin  not  being  released,  messengers  returning  from 
him  to  the  Caucasus  began  to  arouse  his  followers  to  a 
great  state  of  excitement  by  new  principles  which  Verigin 
advised  them  to  adopt  for  their  spiritual  welfare. 

When  Verigin  was  banished  from  Archangel  to  Obddrsk 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Obi  in  Siberia,  an  attendant  Dou- 
khobbr  accompanied  him,  and  he  was  always  kept  well 
supplied  with  money,  in  distributing  which  to  the  poor 
people  he  met  he  was  very  generous. 

Rs.  10,000,  and  a  person  to  whom  it  is  alleged  to  have  been  paid  is 
named. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


157 


The  Doukhobdrs  kept  up  frequent  intercourse  with 
their  exiled  Leader  in  his  places  of  banishment,  first  in 
the  far  North  of  Europe,  and  then  of  Asia.  The  pains 
they  took  to  reach  him,  and  their  indefatigable  persis¬ 
tency  in  visiting  him  regardless  of  all  risks  and  in  spite  of 
all  the  police  could  do  to  stop  them,  were  almost  incredible. 
On  one  occasion  a  Doukhobdr  had  proceeded  far  on  his 
journey  when  he  was  arrested  and  sent  back.  The  police 
endorsed  his  passport  with  a  note  to  the  effect  that  he 
was  to  return  direct  to  his  village,  which  they  named,  but 
after  conducting  him  some  way,  they  left  him  to  complete 
his  homeward  journey  alone.  As  soon  as  he  was  free  he 
again  turned  his  steps  towards  Verigin’s  place  of  exile, 
using  his  passport  to  facilitate  his  journey,  for  none  of 
the  police  officials  he  met  knew  the  name  of  his  village 
or  guessed  that  he  ought  to  be  going  south  instead  of 
north. 

Another  messenger,  after  travelling  several  thousand 
miles  and  nearly  reaching  Verigin,  was  captured  by  the 
police,  found  to  be  passportless,  imprisoned,  and  turned 
back.  He  tells  how  he  passed  the  whole  night,  which 
“  seemed  very  long,”  standing  in  his  cell,  because  the  bugs 
were  too  numerous  for  lying  down  to  be  endurable.  His 
return  journey  from  prison  to  prison,  with  long  intervals 
spent  in  several  of  them,  lasted  a  whole  year  before  he 
reached  the  Caucasus.  But  this  did  not  hinder  the 
Doukhobdrs  from  persistently  despatching  other  mes¬ 
sengers  to  Verigin,  to  take  him  money  and  to  receive  his 
instructions. 

On  one  occasion  a  Doukhobdr  (who  by  some  chance 
happened  to  have  a  passport  enabling  him  to  travel 
freely)  had  nearly  reached  Obddrsk,  when  he  was  noticed 
and  ordered  back  by  the  police.  Slipping  away  from 


158 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


them  stealthily,  he  managed  to  travel  the  last  few  hundred 
miles  to  Obdorsk  on  a  sledge  drawn  by  reindeer,  such 
as  is  usual  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  he  obtained  a 
few  hours’  interview  with  Verigin  before  the  police  could 
follow  him  up  and  send  him  back  to  the  Caucasus.  “  Let 
three  or  four  men  come  to  me  in  the  summer,11  was  one 
of  Verigin’s  remarks  to  this  messenger.* 

Verigin,  unlike  the  common  Doukhobdrs,  had  received 
some  book  education,  and  in  banishment  he  came  across 
other  exiles — Stundists,  Baptists,  and  Tolstoyans — with 
whom  he  conversed,  and  he  also  read  books  that  widened 
his  range  of  ideas.  In  one  of  his  published  letters,  dated 
January  1896,  he  professes  not  to  have  read  Tolstoy’s 
works.  There  is,  however,  good  reason  to  conclude  that  he 
had  at  any  rate  read  some  of  them  before  that  time,  and 
that  Tolstoy’s  ideas  had  also  reached  him  through  people 
he  had  met ;  so  that  we  hardly  risk  making  a  mistake  if 
we  attribute  the  injunctions  he  sent  to  his  followers  during 
the  period  1893-96  very  largely  to  Tolstoy’s  influence, 
either  received  directly  from  Tolstoy’s  own  works,  or  in¬ 
directly  from  exiles  Verigin  met  and  certain  books  he  read. 
In  fact,  in  another  letter,  he  states  expressly  that  while 
in  the  Government  of  Archangel  ( i.e .  1887-94)  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  publications  of  the  44  Posrednik,” 
a  firm  issuing  a  series  of  books  specially  designed  to  assist 
Tolstoy’s  propaganda,  and  including  some  of  Tolstoy’s 
own  works.  A  political  exile,  moreover,  who  knew 
Verigin  in  Obdorsk  (and  wrho  left  Obdorsk  in  1895), 
writes  :  44  Peter  Verigin  told  me  that  between  the  religious 
ideas  held  by  the  Doukhobors  till  quite  recently,  and  the 
teaching  of  Leo  Tolstoy,  there  were  few  points  of  common 

*  My  Journey ,  by  M.  Androsof,  published  in  Russian  with  Verigin’s 
Letters.  Christchurch,  Hants,  1902. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


159 


agreement.  But  at  the  time  of  his  removal  from  Shou¬ 
ld  ours  k  to  Obdorsk  he  made  acquaintance  with  a  friend 
of  Tolstoy’s,11  who  visited  the  Moscow  prison  to  see  him. 
“  From  that  time,  according  to  his  own  words,  he  began 
diligently  to  acquaint  himself  with  Leo  Tolstoy’s  view  of 
existence,  which  he  assimilated  very  quickly,  very  correctly, 
very  fully,  and  which  he  began  to  carry  out  very  systemati¬ 
cally.”  The  same  writer  says,  “  We  had  occasion  more 
than  once  to  talk  with  Peter  Verigin  about  the  .  .  . 
Tolstoyan  teaching.  Our  debates  were  hot,  and  some¬ 
times  continued  for  hours  on  end,  lasting  sometimes  till 
past  midnight  .  .  .  His  favourite  authors  were  Tolstoy, 
Nekrasof  .  .  .  and,  of  course,  the  Gospels,  which  he 
knew  almost  by  heart.”  * 

In  the  diary  of  a  prisoner  who  was  with  Verigin  in 
prison  in  Moscow,  we  find  an  entry,  concerning  Verigin, 
made  on  Monday,  December  5,  1894  :  “  He  is  remark¬ 
ably  fond  of  hearing  about  Tolstoy  ;  I  have  told  him  all 
I  know.” 

In  face  of  all  this,  it  is  curious  to  find  Verigin,  early 
in  1896,  writing  of  Tolstoy  :  “  What  does  his  philosophy 
consist  of?  I  have  not  read  his  works,”  and  proceeding 
to  go  one  better  than  Tolstoy  by  suggesting  that  we 
should  not  be  satisfied  with  making  our  own  boots,  but 
should  give  up  the  use  of  all  things  made  of  metal.  In  that 
very  year  (1896)  Verigin  wrote  an  epistle  to  his  followers 
(which  most  of  them  have  since  learnt  by  heart,  and  to 
which  they  attach  immense  importance),  chiefly  made  up 
of  passages  borrowed  verbatim  from  Tolstoy  s  Kingdom  of 
God  is  Within  You;  and  containing,  in  particular,  one 
long  passage  from  that  book — a  quotation  of  Tolstoy’s 

*  Seethe  matter  published,  in  Russian,  with  Verigin’s  Letters  (Christ¬ 
church,  1901),  pp.  xxxi.,  171,  205,  20G,  209. 


160 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


translation  of  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments  which  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  drew  up  in  1838  for  a  Peace  Convention 
held  in  Boston.* 

That  epistle,  now  part  of  the  sacred  lore  of  the 
Doukhobdrs,  was  signed  by  Peter  Verigin,  and  contains 
no  acknowledgment  of  the  fact  that  he  had  borrowed  its 
contents  from  Tolstoy.  Our  modern  code  of  literary 
ethics  was,  however,  not  recognized  in  ancient  times,  nor 
is  it  recognized  among  primitive  races,  and  it  would  be 
quite  unfair  to  apply  it  to  Verigin’s  action.  My  point  in 
mentioning  the  matter  is  not  to  reproach  Verigin  with 
having  appropriated  Tolstoy’s  teaching,  but  merely  to 
point  out  how  Verigin  became  acquainted  with  Tolstoy’s 
ideas  of  non-resistance,  vegetarianism,  and  repudiation  of 
Governmental  authority,  and  passed  these  on  to  his 
followers  in  the  Caucasus,  who  accepted  them  in  sub¬ 
mission  to  his  authority,  and  naturally  translated  the 
Tolstoyan  theory  of  non-resistance  and  no  Government, 
into  ideas  already  familiar  to  them.  The  Government 
they  rejected  was  the  Russian  Government,  which  had 
long  appeared  to  them  foreign  and  dangerous.  Verigin’s 
immature  assimilation  of  Tolstoy’s  not  infallible  opinions 
has,  I  fear,  not  tended  much  to  enlighten  or  clarify  the 
mental  perceptions  of  the  sect,  which  he  (Verigin)  supplies 
with  beliefs.  More  than  that,  however  sincere  may  have 

*  This  is  pointed  out  by  V.  Bontch-Brouevitcli,  in  his  Preface  to 
Verigin’s  Letters.  There  are,  probably,  more  people  in  Assiniboia  and 
Saskatchewan  to-day  who  can  repeat  a  long  passage  from  Garrison’s 
Declaration ,  in  Russian,  than  there  are  in  ,the  United  States  who  can 
do  so  in  English.  The  way  it  reached  them  was  as  shown  above.  Tolstoy 
inserted  it  in  his  book  ;  his  book  was  read  by  Verigin  in  Northern  Siberia, 
who  used  it  in  an  epistle  sent  to  his  followers  in  the  Caucasus,  and  they, 
accepting  it  as  the  inspiration  of  their  own  Leader,  printed  it  on  the  tablets 
of  their  own  minds,  and  bore  it  with  them  to  the  North-West  Provinces  of 
Canada. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


161 


been  Verigin’s  theoretical  acceptance  of  Tolstoy’s  anti- 
Governmental  principles,  it  is  perfectly  plain  that  when  he 
reached  Canada,  and  saw  the  mess  his  people  were  in  for 
lack  of  a  Government  they  would  obey,  he  took  the  task 
vigorously  in  hand,  and  did  not  hesitate  on  occasion  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  that  physical  force  which  is  such  a 
terrible  bugbear  to  Tolstoy. 

That,  in  the  days  of  his  exile,  Tolstoy’s  ideas  should 
have  made  a  great,  and  probably  a  sincere,  impression  on 
his  mind,  is  not  strange  ;  for  Tolstoy  is  of  the  same  line 
of  prophets  as  Kolesnikof  and  other  early  Doukhobdr 
teachers.  It  is  a  line  leading  back  through  the  Moravian 
Brothers  to  the  Christian  Commune  of  Apostolic  times,'* 
and  it  aims  at  applying  the  injunctions  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  to  the  immediate  establishment  of  a  visible 
Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  by  the  aid  of  certain  external 
injunctions — certain  additions  to  the  ten  commandments. 

Tolstoy’s  charm  and  power  lies  largely  in  the  fact  that 
he  deals  with  the  great,  vital,  obvious  questions  of  human 
conduct,  and  puts  them  so  that  a  plain  man  may  under¬ 
stand  his  meaning.  He  challenges  each  action  with  the 
definite  inquiry  :  Is  this  right  or  wrong  ?  He  over-simplifies 
his  problems  by  isolating  them  (as  those  who  try  to  act 
on  his  precepts  find  out  in  due  course)  ;  but  his  points  are 
clear  and  powerful,  his  aim  is  lofty,  and  his  strength  and 
courage  immense.  It  was  inevitable  that  his  theories 
should  be  eagerly  discussed  by  political  exiles,  and  should 

*  Psychologically  the  case  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  is  very  interest¬ 
ing.  What  subtle  hypnotism  was  it  that  caused  these  well-to-do  people, 
who  were  quite  willing  to  sacrifice  part  of  their  property  in  a  com¬ 
munistic  experiment,  to  be  afraid  to  admit  that  they  were  keeping  back 
part  of  the  price  of  the  land  they  had  sold  ?  That  Commune  did  not 
last  long.  What  gave  it  so  powerful  a  sway  over  some  minds  while  it 
lasted  ? 

M 


162 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


appeal  powerfully  to  such  a  man  as  Verigin.  They  are  of  a 
kind  that  attracts  many  minds  when  they  first  think  about 
the  connection  between  the  injunctions  of  religion  and  the 
customs  prevalent  in  human  society.  That  things  are  not 
right  in  the  world  is  obvious ;  we  are  still  waiting  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
Why  it  cannot  be  established  rapidly,  by  rejecting 
Government  and  property  and  various  institutions  tainted 
with  evil,  is  not  obvious — until  one  tries.  The  intellect, 
unaided  by  lessons  of  practical  experience,  does  not  easily 
realize  that  it  is  useless  to  tie  fruit  on  to  the  trees,  and 
that  the  external  results  we  seek  can  only  be  attained 
when  the  sap  has  given  life  to  the  trees,  and  they  have 
budded  and  blossomed  naturally. 

In  September  of  1886  we  find  Verigin,'  in  the  modest 
language  he  generally  uses,  suggesting  to  the  Doukhobdrs 
that  they  should  change  their  name — 

“Furthermore,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  I  offer  for 
your  consideration  that  we  should  in  future  call  ourselves 
4  The  Christian  Community  of  Universal  Brotherhood.’’  * 
The  name  6  Doukhobbr 1  is  not  understood  by  out¬ 
siders  ;  and  though  we  shall  in  future  still  invoke  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord,  to  strive  against  the  weakness  of  the 
fiesh  and  against  sin,  yet  the  name  6  Christian  Community 
of  Universal  Brotherhood 1  will  tell  more  clearly  that  we 
look  on  all  men  as  our  brothers,  according  to  the  command 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  From  this  time  we  will,  to 
the  praise  of  the  Lord,  take  the  name  of  6  Christian 
Community  of  Universal  Brotherhood.’  Inform  all  the 
brothers  and  sisters.  ...  I  have  had  a  letter  sent  on  to 
me  from  Moscow  that  has  come  from  England  from  a 

*  “  They  belie  every  noun  and  adjective  of  their  cumbrous  title,”  is 
the  comment  made  by  one  who  saw  much  of  them  in  Canada. 


D0UKH0B6R  history 


163 


Society  called  4  The  Brotherhood  Church.1  *  ...  I  have 
written  a  reply,  of  which  I  enclose  a  copy.  ...  If  you 
should  wish  to  adopt  the  proposed  name,  inform  every 
one  that  at  Christmas,  after  prayers,  he  should  con¬ 
sider  himself  accordingly.  ... 11 

This  reads  like  advice  given  to  men  who  may  reject  it 
if  they  choose ;  but  let  us  see  what  Verigin  wrote  in  his 
letter  to  the  44  Brotherhood  Church 11 :  44 1  am  a  follower 
of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  live  in  exile  nearly 
ten  years  for  proclaiming  the  Spirit  of  Truth.  Till  now 
our  community  have  been  called  ‘Doukhobors1  .  .  .  . 
Recently  among  us  a  movement  has  arisen  making  for  the 
perfecting  of  actual  life,  and  we  have  decided  to  call  our 
community  4  The  Christian  Community  of  Universal 
Brotherhood,1  of  which  fact  I  inform  you  with  gladness 
and  with  love,  esteeming  you  as  brothers.11 

It  is  very  evident  that  a  Leader  who  could  write  that 
letter  (and  send  a  copy  of  it  to  the  sect  that  had  told 
Alexander  I.  that  they  would  shed  their  blood  rather  than 
part  with  the  name  of  Doukhobor),  at  the  same  time  that 
he  44  proposed 11  to  them  a  change  (to  a  name  so  cumbrous 
that  in  practice  its  employment  has  been  found  impossible), 
is  a  Leader  who  has  no  doubt  that  his  advice  will  be  acted 
upon. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1894-5  that  Tolstoy  himself  first 
made  acquaintance-with  the  Doukhobors, t  and  it  is  interest¬ 
ing  to  note  how  naturally  and  inevitably  he  fell  into  serious 
error  as  to  the  real  character  of  the  sect.  The  Doukho- 
bdrs  he  met  were  three  who  had  come  to  Moscow  to  see 
Peter  Verigin  in  prison  on  his  way  from  Archangel  to 

*  John  C.  Ken  worthy’s  group  in  Croydon. 

t  See  Paul  BirukdfTs  “  Ma  Connaissance  avec  les  Doukhobors,”  in 
Tolstoi  et  les  Doulchobors.  Paris,  1902. 


164 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Siberia.  Tolstoy  did  not  know  of  Verigin’s  acquaintance 
with  his  own  (Tolstoy’s)  teaching,  or  of  Verigin’s  ascend¬ 
ance  among  the  Doukhobors,  or  of  the  fact  that  Verigin 
was  now  imposing  on  the  ignorant  mass  of  his  sect  those 
externalities  which,  to  Tolstoy’s  mind,  correspond  to  the 
spiritual  enthusiasm  which  has  animated  him  for  years. 
Knowing  nothing  of  all  this,  and  meeting  men  who  exter¬ 
nally  appeared  to  meet  the  requirements  of  his  teaching, 
he  could  hardly  avoid  falling  into  the  error  of  regarding 
them  as  examples  of  true  Christianity  in  practical  life. 

They  worked  with  their  hands,  yet  were  dignified  and 
full  of  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  group.  They 
produced  more  than  they  consumed ;  rejected  the  Church 
and  the  State  ;  acknowledged  (apparently)  no  human 
authority,  yet  lived  together  and  co-operated  in  a  closely 
knit  community.  They  professed  the  very  principles  of 
Christian  anarchy  dear  to  Tolstoy ;  and  (apparently)  put 
these  into  actual  practice  without  that  disintegrating  result 
so  painfully  evident  in  the  failure  of  the  Tolstoy  Colonies, 
and  which,  through  all  history,  has  accompanied  attempts 
to  carry  on  work  collectively  without  recognizing  ourselves 
as  part  of  a  social  organism  we  cannot  suddenly  reshape 
when  and  how  we  will. 

No  wonder  Tolstoy  (with  his  impatient  desire  for 
quick  results)  wrote  that  what  was  occurring  among  the 
Doukhobors  was  44  the  germinating  of  that  seed  sown  by 
Christ  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  :  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  himself,”  and  added  that  the  main  condition  for 
the  realization  of  the  Christian  life  44  is  the  existence  and 
gathering  together  of  people  who  even  now  realize  that 
towards  which  we  are  all  striving.  And  behold,  these 
people  exist !  ” 

Let  it  not  be  for  a  moment  supposed  that  I  forget  the 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


165 


immense  debt  we  owe  (and  that  I,  personally,  owe)  to  Leo 
Tolstoy.  His  service  has  been  so  great  that  one  may 
safely  weigh  his  mistakes  without  fear  of  destroying  his 
influence,  just  as  one  recognizes  spots  on  the  sun  without 
"feKI’tng  to  destroy  its  warmth.  But  just  because  Tolstoy 
is  so  strong  that  his  writings  have  an  hypnotic  influence 
on  many  weaker  minds,  it  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  truth  and 
to  the  Author  of  all  truth,  to  challenge  the  hasty  generali¬ 
zations  of  which  Tolstoy  is  sometimes  guilty.  He  assumes 
that  all  use  of  physical  restraint  on  man  is  necessarily 
malicious,  and,  therefore,  that  all  Governments  using 
physical  force  are  immoral,  and  all  participation  in 
governmental  affairs  is  wrong.  But  this  is  far  too  hasty 
and  too  sweeping ;  and  his  wholesale  condemnation  of  the 
activities  in  which  so  many  of  his  fellow-mortals  are 
engaged,  is  a  species  of  intellectual  impetuosity  which 
entails  a  penalty  of  its  own. 

Indeed,  that  penalty  is  writ  large  in  the  story  of  Tol¬ 
stoy’s  relation  to  the  Doukhobors.  Wedded  to  his  opinion 
— a  mistaken  opinion — Tolstoy  was  led  to  mistake  the 
character  of  a  folk  who  appeared  to  accept  the  opinions 
and  practise  the  conduct  he  advocated.  Naturally,  also,  he 
nominated  as  his  chief  lieutenant  (in  an  affair  to  which  he 
was  unable  to  devote  much  personal  attention)  a  man  who 
shared  his  errors,  and  thus  the  Tolstoyan  movement  was 
publicly  committed  to  the  misapprehension  of  certain  facts, 
which  have  since  become  plain  to  unbiased  observers. 
The  effect  has  been  to  drive  many  quondam  Tolstoyans 
into  another  camp ;  and  to  leave  the  Tolstoyans  half- 
committed  to  the  defence  of  an  indefensible  position. 

The  same  thing  has  occurred  again  and  again  in  religious 
and  reform  movements;  and  the  great  lesson  of  it  all  is, 
the  impossibility  of  ultimately  identifying  the  cause  of 


^ — 


166 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Truth  with  the  teaching  of  any  one  man  or  the  success 
of  any  one  movement,  good  as  these  may  be  up  to  a 
certain  point.  As  Thoreau  nobly  said  :  “  They  who  know 
no  purer  sources  of  truth,  who  have  traced  up  its  stream 
no  higher,  stand,  and  wisely  stand,  by  the  Bible  and  the 
Constitution,  and  drink  at  it  there  with  reverence  and 
humility ;  but  they  who  behold  where  it  comes  trickling 
into  this  lake  or  that  pool,  gird  up  their  loins  once  more, 
and  continue  their  pilgrimage  towards  its  fountain-head.’1 
So,  after  the  warning  given  by  these  occurrences,  while  not 
ceasing  to  work  the  rich  quarry  of  Tolstoy’s  teachings  for 
the  ore  that  lies  there,  we  must  be  ever  on  our  guard  not 
to  have  our  mental  equilibrium  upset  by  his  strenuous  and 
forceful  eloquence ;  especially  if,  by  a  new  kind  of  apostolic 
succession,  his  spiritual  authority  is  to  be  delegated  to 
others  whom  his  mantle  does  not  fit. 

A  severe  test  of  a  man’s  individuality,  in  face  of  a 
forceful  and  persuasive  teacher  like  Tolstoy  with  whom  it 
is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  agree,  is  whether  the  pupil  clings 
to  the  duty  of  testing  even  the  most  attractive  notions 
on  the  touchstone  of  experience,  or  whether  he  shuts  his 
eyes  to  the  lessons  of  experience  and  consents  to  drift 
along  in  whatever  direction  the  master  pushes  him. 

To  resume  the  thread  of  my  narrative  I  must  go  back 
a  little,  to  a  time  early  in  1893  when,  Verigin  not  having 
been  released,  the  Large  Party,  which  still  followed  him 
implicitly  and  regarded  him  as  their  Leader,  were  stirred 
up  by  messengers  returning  from  him.  The  relations 
between  the  Small  Party  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  the  seven  villages  of  which  Spasskoe  was  the  chief, 
on  the  other,  had  become  very  bitter.  The  Large  Party 
excluded  the  Small  Party  from  their  religious  meetings, 
and  the  members  of  the  one  section  ceased  even  to  bow  to 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


167 


the  members  of  the  other,  though  that  acknowledgment  of 
the  divinity  lodged  in  each  Doukhobor  formed  part  of 
their  customary  religious  duty. 

The  cattle  of  the  Small  Party  were  not  allowed  to 
graze  with  the  cattle  of  the  Large  Party.  So  bitter  was 
the  quarrel  that  husbands  and  wives  separated,  if  they 
belonged  to  different  sections ;  and  the  one  party  would 
not  allow  the  other  even  to  use  the  same  cemetery. 

In  the  Bougdashef  branch  of  the  Tiflis  Doukhobors, 
among  whom  the  conflict  was  fiercest,  some  two  hundred 
families  belonged  to  the  Small  Party,  and  about  seven 
hundred  or  more  families  to  the  Large  Party. 

The  advice  brought  by  the  messengers  from  Verigin  to 
the  latter,  was  to — 

(1)  Serve  one  God. 

(2)  Therefore,  since  war  offends  God,  not  to  perform 
military  service. 

(3)  To  divide  up  their  property  equally,  that  none 
might  be  rich  or  poor. 

(4)  To  cease  from  killing  animals  for  food,  and  from 
the  use  of  intoxicants  and  tobacco. 

(5)  To  refrain  from  sexual  relations  (at  least  during 
this  time  of  their  tribulation). 

The  tradition  of  obedience  was  too  strong  for  the 
Doukhobors  not  to  accept  this  advice,  nor  was  there 
anything  in  it  to  shock  them  very  much.  They  would 
no  more  object  to  the  first  of  these  commandments  than 
would  our  own  Trinitarians.  The  second  point  would 
commend  itself  to  many  of  them.  Again  and  again  in 
their  history,  cases  of  collective  refusal  of  military  service 
had  occurred.  In  the  Turkish  War  of  1769-84,  at 
Perekdp,  they  had  deliberately  flung  away  their  arms 
during  a  battle.  In  1807-09,  Doukhobors  in  the  Kief 


168 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


garrison  regiment  had  refused  to  receive  ammunition  or 
perform  military  service ;  and  remaining  firm  against 
remonstrance,  had  been  sent  as  convicts  to  the  Nertchinsk 
mines  in  Siberia.  Other  similar  cases  had  occurred,  and 
even  when  they  endured  it  the  Doukhobors  had  usually 
regarded  military  service  as  a  tyrannous  imposition.  At 
the  time  of  which  we  write,  with  Verigin  a  prisoner,  they 
were  less  disposed  than  ever  to  serve  in  the  Russian  army. 

The  third  point,  the  communalization  of  their  property, 
wras  again  something  not  quite  new  to  the  sect.  It  was  a 
repetition  of  what  had  been  practised  for  several  years 
under  Kapoustin,  and  most  of  them  held  that  whatever 
was  theirs  was  their  Leader’s. 

As  to  the  fourth  point :  to  cease  to  kill  animals  for  food 
was  no  great  privation.  The  bulk  of  the  Russian  peasants 
eat  meat  rarely,  having  some  two  hundred  Church  fast- 
days  in  the  year,  and  being  prompted  by  poverty  to 
fast  on  most  of  the  other  days  as  well.  Moreover, 
for  a  healthy  and  sturdy  folk,  who  have  plenty  of  cereals, 
and  plenty  of  fresh  air  and  manual  labour,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  exclusion  of  meat  from  their 
diet  is  physically,  as  wrell  as  from  a  humanitarian  point  of 
view,  an  almost  unqualified  advantage.*  Giving  up  stimu- 

*  Dr.  A.  Haig  writes  me :  “  I  am  much  interested  in  what  you  say 
about  the  Doukliobors  and  their  change  of  diet ;  but  I  think  men  of  the 
labouring  class  would  very  often  experience  no  difficulty  in  changing 
diet  even  quite  suddenly,  as  they  have  plenty  of  exercise  and  good 
healthy  appetites.  It  is  the  idle  rich  man  who  has  no  employment,  no 
exercise,  nothing  to  think  of  but  himself,  no  appetite,  and  only  half  a 
digestion,  that  gives  me  all  my  trouble.  A  working  man  can  eat  1£  lbs. 
of  bread  a  day  easily,  and  that  is  almost  all  the  food  he  needs ;  and  while 
he  can  do  this  he  is  not  likely  to  starve. 

“It  is  more  and  more  brought  home  to  my  mind  that  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  prevent  the  idle  rich  from  paying  a  heavy  price  for  his 
selfishness :  if  he  alters  his  diet  in  time  he  may  become  unselfish  and 
will  then  no  longer  sutler  either  in  mind,  body,  or  estate.” 


DOUKHOBDR  HISTORY 


169 


lants  and  narcotics  proved  a  difficulty  to  many,  but  Verigin’s 
authority  and  the  force  of  public  opinion  were  sufficiently 
strong  generally  to  enforce  abstinence. 

To  refrain  from  sexual  relations  was,  no  doubt, 
much  more  difficult,  but  (not  to  mention  the  example  of 
monks  and  nuns)  it  was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  accord  with 
the  tenets  of  a  sect  nearly  related  historically  to  the 
Doukhobdrs ;  and  to  how  considerable  an  extent  the 
Doukhobdrs  followed  their  Leader’s  advice  even  in  this 
respect,  is  made  evident  by  the  scarcity  of  young  children 
among  them  when  they  reached  Canada  in  1899.  Marriage 
then  became  epidemic ! 

But  though  many  of  the  Doukhobdrs  might  intend  to 
obey  Verigin  in  all  things,  it  was  easier  for  him,  sitting 
in  exile,  to  imbibe  Tolstoyan  ideas  (at  first  or  second 
hand),  and  feel  that  they  reinforced  old  traditions  of  his  sect 
and  also  furnished  a  means  of  inflicting  a  slap  in  the 
face  to  the  Russian  Government  by  promoting  a  general 
Doukhobdr  refusal  of  conscription,  than  it  was  for  several 
thousand  human  beings  at  his  bidding  to  adopt  and 
persevere  in  regulations  making  so  vast  a  change  in  their 
daily  life.  It  is  not  wonderful,  therefore,  that  before  long 
a  fresh  split  in  the  Large  Party  took  place.  It  divided 
up  into  a  Middle  or  “Butchers’”  Party,  who  rejected 
Verigin’s  advice,  and  a  “  Fasting  Party,”  who  accepted  it. 
This  fresh  split  came  to  a  head  early  in  1895,  when 
nearly  three  hundred  families  out  of  the  seven  hundred 
or  more  families  of  the  Large  Party  in  the  Bougdashef 
settlement  of  the  Tiflis  Doukhobdrs,  applied  to  the 
Russian  authorities  begging  not  to  be  confounded  with 
the  “Fasting”  Doukhobdrs,  and  not  to  be  held  respon¬ 
sible  for  what  these  might  undertake.  This  Middle 
Party,  however,  still  observed  the  Doukhobdr  tradition 


170 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


of  not  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  sect ;  and  in  reply  to 
the  inquiries  of  the  local  authorities  expressed  complete 
ignorance  of  what  the  “  Fasting  ”  Doukhobors  might  be 
contemplating. 

Meanwhile,  the  “Fasting”  Doukhobors  went  steadily 
to  work'lto  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  the  Government. 
They  demanded  the  return  of  their  “  Fatherland,”  *  by 
which  they  meant  the  Orphans’  Home,  with  all  the  cattle, 
lands,  and  money  that  belonged  to  it. 

“Understand,”  said  they,  “that  we  cannot  live 
without  our  4  Fatherland.’  No  matter  what  you  do,  we 
will  persist,  and  there  will  be  no  peace  for  any  one  till  we 
get  it.  You  had  better  kill  us  all.  Whether  you  like  it 
or  not,  you  will  have  to  shoot  at  us.”  They  also  refused 
to  pay  their  taxes ;  which,  indeed,  they  had  been  quite 
unaccustomed  to  pay,  as  these  had  always  been  attended 
to  by  the  managers  of  the  Orphans’  Home. 

Absurd  rumours  circulated  among  the  more  ignorant 
of  the  sect  as  to  the  splendour  in  which  Verigin  lived 
in  his  home  in  the  far  north.  The  messengers  sent  had, 
it  was  reported,  found  him  seated  on  a  throne  with  a 
halo  round  his  head,  a  Russian  Ambassador  on  his  right 
hand,  and  a  Chinese  Ambassador  on  his  left. 

A  Russian  law  projected  at  this  time,  and  which  after 
being  tentatively  put  in  operation  was  soon  abandoned, 
added  fuel  to  the  fire  of  Doukhobdr  discontent.  It  was  a 
law  concerning  “  Village  Prudential  Reserve  Funds,”  by 
which  the  Government  wished  to  secure  (what  the 
Doukhobors  had  long  ago  done  for  themselves,  by  the 


*  The  Russians  go  to  battle  “For  Faith,  for  Tsar,  and  for  Father- 
land.”  The  Doukhobors,  who  are  remarkably  fond  of  catchwords,  had  a 
Faith  of  their  own,  and  a  Tsar  of  their  own,  but  they  lacked  a  Father- 
land.  So  they  attached  this  name  to  the  land  and  house  which  formed 
their  seat  of  Governpient. 


D0UKH0B6R  history 


171 


establishment  of  the  Orphans’  Home)  the  creation  of  a 
reserve  which  could  be  drawn  upon  in  times  of  scarcity. 
Participation  in  this  scheme  was  sturdily  resisted  by  the 
Doukhobdrs.  u  We  prefer  to  perish,”  said  they,  44  rather 
than  to  do  anything  contrary  to  our  convictions.” 
When  the  Government  scheme  ultimately  broke  down, 
and  the  money  it  had  begun  to  collect  was  returned,  the 
Doukhobdrs  (ignorant  of  the  real  reasons  for  the  abandon¬ 
ment  of  the  project)  considered  it  a  victory  gained  by 
them  over  the  Russian  Government. 

They  also  started  an  anti-Governmental  propaganda 
among  the  surrounding  Mohammedan  tribes.  44  Do  as  we 
do,”  said  they,  44  then  you  also  will  make  yourselves  feared. 
At  first  the  Governor  resisted  our  demands  tooth  and  nail, 
but  afterwards  he  had  to  climb  down.  He  sees  he  can  do 
nothing  with  us,  and  why  ?  Because  we  all  stand  together 
like  one  man.” 

The  crisis  came  that  summer.  The  Fasters  withdrew 
their  deposits  from  the  Bank  in  Ahalkalaki,  and  divided 
the  money  up  equally  among  their  number.  They  began 
hastily  selling  their  property  and  cattle ;  refused  to  have  any 
intercourse  with  the  authorities  ;  and  announced  that  they 
were  leaving  the  country.  Their  young  men  refused  con¬ 
scription,  those  in  the  army  declined  to  serve  any  longer ; 
and  their  reservists  began  to  return  their  44  tickets  ”  to 
the  authorities,  in  sign  that  they,  too,  rejected  service. 

The  excitement  among  them  at  this  time  was  like  the 
exaltation  sometimes  witnessed  at  revivalist  meetings. 
The  Small  Party  became  seriously  alarmed,  and  feared  an 
armed  attack  on  the  village  of  Goreloe  where  the  Orphans’ 
Home  was  situated.  The  local  authorities,  face  to  face 
with  a  situation  of  great  responsibility  and  difficulty,  were 
also  much  disturbed. 


172 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


There  were  signs  that  some  great  event  was  about  to 
take  place.  Meetings  of  the  Fasters  were  held,  but  the 
decisions  arrived  at  were  kept  profoundly  secret,  and  it 
was  not  known  till  later  on,  that  Verigin  had.  sent 
instructions  that  on  the  eve  of  his  nameday  (St.  Peter's 
day,  June  29,  o.s.)  his  followers  were  to  burn  their 
arms  as  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  the  new  principles 
they  had  adopted. 

The  Governor  of  Tiflis  receiving  reports  to  the  effect 
that  the  Fasters  intended  to  attack  Goreloe,  sent  three 
companies  of  infantry  and  three  hundred  Cossacks  to 
keep  order.  He  thought  it  necessary  also  to  visit  the 
Doukhobdr  district  himself.  The  Fasters  when  required 
to  supply  horses  for  his  conveyance,  declined  to  do  so, 
and  announced  that  they  did  not  wish  to  enter  into 
any  explanations  with  him.  In  fact,  both  before  and 
after  they  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Cossacks, 
the  Fasting  Doukhobbrs  appear,  systematically  and  with 
deliberate  intent,  to  have  insulted  the  Governor  and  his 
subordinates. 

At  the  town  of  Ahalkalaki,  the  Governor  met  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  Small  and  Middle  parties,  and  as  no 
representatives  of  the  Fasters  would  come  voluntarily, 
twenty-four  of  them  were  brought  in  by  the  police — pro¬ 
testing  strongly  against  being  “taken  captives.”  They 
neither  bowed,  nor  greeted  the  Governor,  but  smiled  con¬ 
temptuously  and  behaved  provokingly.  They  said,  “  We 
are  orthodox  Christians,  governed  by  God  himself;  we 
cannot  submit  to  pagan  authorities  sunk  in  falsehood, 
deception  and  dishonour,  nor  can  we  submit  to  your  laws, 
because  we  have  our  own  law  and  our  own  faith,  which 
forbids  us  to  accept  any  kind  of  Government  service.  We 
can  pay  no  taxes,  cannot  swear  allegiance  to  an  earthly 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY  173 

Tsar,  and  cannot  supply  recruits,  or  carry  out  the  decrees 
of  the  local  authorities.11 

Towards  the  other  Doukhobdrs  they  assumed  a  boastful 
air  :  “  Do  not  count  on  the  soldiers,'1  said  they  ;  “  we  are 
not  afraid  of  them  ;  we  are  going  to  show  what  we  are 
made  of,  and  shall  astonish  you  all.” 

One  of  the  youngest  Tasters  (a  lad  personally  known 
to  the  Governor)  was  detained  after  the  others  had  been 
dismissed,  and  privately  asked  whether,  in  his  opinion, 
what  they  were  doing  was  wise,  or  profitable  to  themselves, 
and  whether  he  was  not  ashamed  of  it  all  ?  His  reply 
was  :  “  Who  now  cares  about  what  is  wise  or  profitable  ? 
There  is  no  question  of  shame  in  it ;  we  are  following  our 
fate,  and  going  to  death.  You  see  that  everything  has 
become  entangled  and  confused  ;  we  ourselves  do  not 
understand  how  it  has  all  come  about.11 

An  explanation  given  by  Alexey  Vorobyef,  who  had 
for  a  time  acted  as  Verigin’s  substitute,  but  had  ulti¬ 
mately  joined  the  Middle  Party,  is  specially  noteworthy. 
He  said  of  Verigin  :  “  Some  looked  on  him  as  the  Apostles 
looked  on  Christ,  and  considered  him  a  Saviour,  or  the 
‘  Door  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  1 ;  others  considered 
him  as  a  God-Man  or  earthly  Deity ;  others  only  con¬ 
sidered  him  a  Prophet ;  and  there  were  also  sensible  men 
who  simply  looked  on  him  as  on  an  ordinary  man.  What 
was  most  important  was  his  influence  among  us  as  a  public 
Leader.11 

What  actually  happened  on  the  eve  of  Peter  Verigin’s 
nameday  has  already  been  told  in  English.*  The  Fasting 

*  See  Christian  Martyrdom  in  Russia ,  edited  by  Vladimir  Tclicrtkoflf, 
with  a  preface  by  John  C.  Ken  worthy  and  a  concluding  chapter  by  Leo 
Tolstoy.  London,  Brotherhood  Publishing  Company,  18U7. 

See  also  Tolstoi  et  les  Douhhobors.  fails  historiques  r (funis  far  J.  IF. 


174 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Doukhobors  collected  their  arms  and  burnt  them  at  night. 
rlhe  Cossacks  came  on  them  in  the  morning  before  the 
fires  had  quite  burnt  out,  and  flogged  them  most  brutally. 
No  impudence  they  had  shown,  and  continued  to  show, 
towards  the  authorities,  can  be  held  to  justify  this 
inhuman  treatment  of  men  and  women  who  had  really 
committed  no  crime.  Still  less  can  any  sufficient  excuse 
be  found  for  the  behaviour  of  the  Cossacks  who  were  sub¬ 
sequently  quartered  on  the  villages  as  on  a  conquered 
country. 

The  Government,  which  had  never  done  anything  to 
enlighten  the  Doukhobors,  now  punished  with  most 
ruthless  cruelty  their  blind  fidelity  to  their  absent  Leader. 
It  was  decided  to  break  up  the  homes  of  the  Fasters  in 
the  Tiflis  Government,  and  to  place  them  in  conditions 
which  would  compel  them  to  submit  to  the  authorities. 
On  8th  July,  35  families  with  52  waggons,  and  during 
the  next  fortnight  439  more  families  (about  4000  people 
in  all),  were  removed  from  their  homes  and  scattered 
among  the  Georgians  and  other  tribes.  What  became  of 
them  has  already  been  told  in  the  first  chapter  of  this 
book. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  Tolstoyans  came  promi¬ 
nently  upon  the  scene.  Paul  Birukoff  was  despatched  to 
the  Caucasus  to  investigate  the  matter.  Tolstoy  wrote  to 
the  Times  enclosing  BirukofFs  report,  which  unintentionally 
gave  (as  we  now  see)  a  one-sided  account  of  what  had 
happened ;  and  Tchertkoff  took  the  matter  up  more 
strenuously  than  judiciously.  His  emotional  appeals 
attracted  attention  because  Tolstoy  vouched  for  him  and 

Bienstock ,  Paris ,  1902.  These  two  works,  though  their  account  of  the 
Doukhobors  is  very  one-sided,  are  authoritative  records  of  the  Tolstoyan 
attitude  towards  the  movement. 


DOUKHOBOR  HISTORY 


175 


for  his  statemsilts.  The  account  he  published  of  Christian 
Martyrs  perishing  “  simply  because  they  are  too  good  to 
be  understood  by  the  mass  of  their  fellow-men, ”  was  an 
effective  way  of  attracting  attention  and  securing  the 
objects  he  had  immediately  in  view ;  but  it  is  pitiable 
when  such  fervour  of  moral  appeal  is  combined  with  such 
recklessness  of  statement.  Eventually,  people  find  out 
that  they  have  been  deceived,  and  then  they  are  but  too 
apt  to  conclude  that  the  principles  in  support  of  which  the 
misstatements  were  made,  cannot  be  principles  worthy  of 
esteem. 

There  were,  in  England  and  elsewhere,  many  who  had 
been  strongly  moved  by  what  is  true,  wise,  and  profoundly 
religious  in  Tolstoy’s  writings,  and  who  were  anxious-  to 
serve  him.  When,  wanting  nothing  for  himself,  he 
nominated  a  representative  and  appealed  for  help  to  be 
administered  through  him  for  people  persecuted  for  having 
realized  the  Christian  life,  such  an  appeal  naturally  pro¬ 
duced  its  effect.  People  gave  money,  time,  and  strength  ; 
but  the  indiscretions  of  Tolstoy’s  representative,  and  the 
misconduct  of  the  sectarians  for  whom  he  had  vouched, 
were,  in  the  public  estimation,  ultimately  debited  to 
Tolstoy. 

The  matter  was  so  public,  the  appeals  for  help  so 
emotional,  the  assertions  so  absolute,  and  the  conduct  of 
the  Doukhobors  in  Canada  fell  so  far  short  of  the 
character  that  had  been  given  them,  that  one  cannot  be 
surprised  at  the  disappointment  many  people  felt. 

I  do  not  think,  however,  that  any  who  gave  time, 
energy,  or  money  to  the  work,  should  grudge  having  done 
so.  'A  peasant  folk  are  not  less  in  need  of  help  if  besides 
the  material  oppression  they  have  suffered,  they  are  also 
in  bondage  to  a  gross  superstition.  Nor  do  those  alone 


176 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


need  help  who  have  no  faults, — were  it  so,  charity  would 
indeed  be  apt  to  rust. 

That  branch  of  the  Doukhobdrs,  which  is  now  settled 
in  Canada,  has,  during  the  nineteenth  century,  probably 
migrated  more  than  any  other  sect  in  the  world.  During 
the  first  two  decades  of  the  century  they  assembled  from 
many  distant  parts  of  the  Russian  Empire  to  a  spot  near 
the  Sea  of  Azof.  In  the  fourth  decade,  their  next  genera¬ 
tion  were  transported  to  the  Caucasus ;  and  before  the 
century  ended  yet  another  generation  migrated  to  Canada, 
to  be  there  rejoined  by  members  whose  nearest  way,  from 
their  land  of  exile  in  Siberia  to  their  new  Canadian  home, 
now  lies  across  the  Pacific  Ocean 


CHAPTER  V 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 

When  I  had  nearly  finished  writing  this  book,  I  found 
there  was  a  serious  gap  separating  the  first  chapters  from 
the  concluding  ones.  This  came  about  in  the  following 
way.  I  had  observed  the  Doukhobdr  movement  from  1898 
till  1899,  using  as  an  explanation  of  what  was  happening, 
the  Tolstoyan  assumption  that  the  Doukhobdrs  were 
morally  far  above  ordinary  humanity,  and  were  persecuted 
just  because  they  were  so  good.  When  they  began  to  act 
unreasonably,  and  to  give  much  needless  trouble  to  the 
Canadians,  I  was  puzzled,  and  wished  to  accept  the  in¬ 
genious  explanations  evolved  by  the  Tolstoyans.  I  found, 
however,  that  though  each  of  these  explanations  taken 
by  itself  was  plausible,  the  total  effect  of  trying  to  accept 
a  succession  of  different  explanations  for  a  succession  of 
fresh  vagaries  indulged  in  by  the  Doukhobdrs,  was  ex¬ 
tremely  confusing.  I  watched  events,  received  frequent 
news  from  Canada,  and  talked  with  Russian  and  English 
friends  returning  from  helping  the  Doukhobdrs;  but  for 
lack  of  a  key  to  the  situation  I  was,  for  a  long  time, 
unable  to  trace  a  rational  sequence  in  what  went  on.  Ry 
the  time  the  Pilgrimages  occurred,  of  which  an  account 
is  given  in  later  chapters  of  this  book,  I  had  learnt — partly 
from  what  was  told  me  by  Russian  friends  who  had 


178 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


lived  among  them,  and  partly  also  from  Doukhobor 
history,  to  look  to  Verigin’s  authority,  and  to  the  theory 
of  a  God-Man  always  present  among  then),  for  a  solution 
of  the  mystery.  From  then  to  the  present  time  I  have 
been  able  to  follow  what  has  occurred  as  a  consecutive 
drama.  Still,  however,  I  felt  a  difficulty  about  recalling 
the  confused  incidents  of  the  years  1899-1902  with 
sufficient  precision  to  reduce  them  to  any  sort  of  order. 
There  was,  therefore,  some  danger  that  this  fifth  chapter  of 
my  book  would  remain  unwritten.  Fortunately,  while  the 
other  chapters  were  still  in  the  printer’s  hands,  my  atten¬ 
tion  was  called  to  a  series  of  articles  by  44  Olhovsky  ”  (a 
pseudonym  transparent  enough  to  those  who  were  con¬ 
nected  with  the  movement)  which  appeared  in  the  Russian 
periodical  Obrazovdnie  from  April  to  August,  1903.  In 
these  articles,  a  Russian  who  was  living  among  them  at  the 
time,  and  who  was  well  qualified  to  observe  them,  gives  a 
detailed  account  of  the  first  years  of  the  Doukhobor  settle¬ 
ment  in  Canada,  and  throws  a  flood  of  light,  confirmatory 
of  the  view  of  the  situation  I  had  myself  formed,  on  the 
events  of  that  period. 

At  some  risk  of  perhaps  repeating  a  few  things  said 
in  the  later  (but  previously  written)  chapters  of  this  book, 
I  will  here  attempt  to  summarize  Olhovsky’s  articles  (with¬ 
out  confining  myself  exclusively  to  that  source),  and  thus 
supply  the  missing  link  between  the  commencement  and 
the  conclusion  of  this  volume. 

Two  steamers,  the  Lake  Superior  and  the  Lake  Huron , 
each  made  two  voyages  carrying  Doukhobors  to  Canada 
in  1899.  On  the  first  steamer  L.  Soulerzhitsky  had  them 
in  charge.  With  the  second  vessel  went  Count  Sergius 
Tolstoy,  the  second  son  of  Leo  Tolstoy.  Soulerzhitsky, 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


179 


returning  from  Canada,  again  took  charge  of  the  third 
party,  consisting  of  the  Doukhobdrs  temporarily  settled  in 
Cyprus.  They  were  accompanied  by  Captain  St.  John, 
the  nurse  A.  O.  Rabetz,  Anna  de  Carousa,  and  William 
Bellows  (son  of  John  Bellows,  who  had  taken  so  active  an 
interest  in  the  movement,  and  brother  of  Hannah  Bellows, 
who  subsequently  went  out  to  teach  English  among  them). 
The  last  steamer,  the  most  crowded  of  all,  carried  no  less 
than  2,318  Doukhobdrs,  with  several  Russian  helpers,  in¬ 
cluding  44  V.  Olhovsky  ;  ”  a  lady  doctor,  V.  M.  Velitchkina  ; 
a  nurse  and  midwife,  E.  D.  Hiryakova  (who  had  already 
been  out  with  the  second  party);  and  A.  N.  Konshin,  the 
son  of  a  wealthy  Moscow  merchant.  Other  helpers  who 
went  out  with  one  or  other  party  and  rendered  valuable 
assistance,  were  Sasha  Satz  and  Marie  Rabetz. 

Two  of  the  four  shiploads  of  Doukhobdrs  had  to  go 
into  quarantine  on  account  of  infectious  illnesses.  On  the 
last  voyage,  soon  after  the  vessel  started,  thirteen  cases  of 
smallpox  were  discovered.  The  Doukhobdrs  tried  to  con¬ 
ceal  these  from  their  medical  helpers  ;  but  eventually,  by 
order  of  A.  Verigina  (the  aged  mother  of  Peter  Verigin, 
and  a  sort  of  queen  among  them),  the  patients  were 
44  delivered  up,”  and  allowed  to  be  isolated.  The  disease 
spread  no  further ;  but  the  whole  party  had,  nevertheless, 
to  stay  in  quarantine  for  a  month,  at  Grosse  Island  in  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

The  land  reserved  in  the  northern  and  southern 
colonies  was  not  sufficient  for  all  the  Doukhobdrs,  so  after 
nearly  6,000  people  had  settled  in  those  parts,  an  overflow 
colony,  comprising  the  larger  part  of  the  Doukhobdrs  who 
came  on  the  fourth  steamer,  settled  on  land  in  the  Prince 
Albert  district,  near  the  North  Saskatchewan  river. 

For  the  Doukhobdrs  the  first  year  of  life  in  Canada 


180 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


was  very  trying.  About  5,000  of  them  had  arrived  almost 
penniless.  Ignorant  of  the  country,  of  its  ways,  and  of  the 
language,  the  task  before  them  during  the  summer  and 
autumn  was  to  earn  by  wage-labour  sufficient  to  carry 
them  through  till  the  next  year,  when  they  might  hope  to 
have  harvests  of  their  own.  Before  the  severe  Canadian 
winter  came  on  they  had  also  to  erect  houses  for  them¬ 
selves  and  shelter  for  their  cattle,  to  obtain  such  house¬ 
hold  furniture  and  utensils  as  they  required,  to  procure 
agricultural  implements,  and  to  break  up  the  virgin 
prairie,  and  sow  and  plant  grain  and  vegetables  for  the 
coming  year.  To  add  to  their  difficulties,  the  last  party 
of  Doukhobors  did  not  leave  quarantine  till  July,  when  it 
was  too  late  to  hope  to  get  them  settled  on  their  land  in 
time  to  prepare  for  the  next  harvest. 

Under  these  terribly  difficult  circumstances  the  best 
side  of  the  Doukhobor  nature  showed  itself.  There  was, 
of  course,  some  confusion  and  some  waste  of  energy,  but 
on  the  whole  the  endurance,  perseverance,  and  readiness 
to  co-operate  shown  by  the  people  were  remarkable. 

From  the  early  spring,  almost  all  available  Doukhobors 
from  the  age  of  fifteen  upwards,  were  scattered  over 
Canada  at  work  on  farms,  and  at  railways,  saw-mills  and 
other  places  where  labourers  were  wanted.  The  women, 
with  the  little  children,  the  sick,  and  the  aged,  and  with 
perhaps  a  couple  of  fully  capable  workmen  to  each  village, 
moved  from  the  immigration  halls  early  in  the  spring  to 
the  prairies,  into  huge  barracks  that  had  been  erected 
during  the  winter  at  convenient  spots  on  the  Doukhobor 
reserves ;  and  operating  from  these  centres,  they  selected 
suitable  places  for  their  future  residence,  and  set  to  work 
energetically  to  build  their  villages.  Almost  all  the 
villages  were  built  by  the  Doukhobor  women.  Lacking 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


181 


horses,  the  women  also  ploughed  the  land  by  harnessing 
themselves,  twelve  pairs  of  women  to  a  plough,  with  one 
ploughman  to  drive  them. 

The  conditions  were  often  very  hard  and  discouraging. 
In  the  spring  some  villages  were  left  for  weeks  without 
salt,  and  here  and  there  for  a  while  even  without  flour, 
owing  to  the  spring  floods,  the  bad  roads,  and  the  difficulty 
of  securing  conveyance.  But  the  most  trying  time  came 
in  August  and  September,  when,  worn  out  by  excessive 
work,  and  suffering  from  insufficient  food,  many  of  the 
Doukhobors  began  to  grow  apathetic.  Scurvy,  ophthalmia, 
and  anaemia  were  common  among  them,  and  it  became 
evident  that  in  spite  of  all  exertions  they  would  not  be 
able  to  get  through  the  winter  without  assistance.  Fortu¬ 
nately  the  necessary  help  was  forthcoming.  The  Phila¬ 
delphia  Friends,  in  particular,  were  very  generous,  raising 
a  sum  of  $30,000  in  a  few  weeks.  Nor  should  the  help 
rendered  by  the  Dominion  National  Council  of  Women  be 
forgotten.  The  most  critical  moment  of  the  whole  migra¬ 
tion  was  safely  tided  over.  The  Canadian  Government 
supplied  seed  for  the  spring  sowings,  and  from  that  time 
onwards  there  never  was  a  moment  when,  except  from  the 
obstinacy  and  fanaticism  of  the  Doukhobors  themselves, 
the  success  of  their  settlement  in  Canada  was  in  any  doubt. 

During  the  year  1900  their  prosperity  increased  rapidly, 
as  was  shown  by  the  increase  in  the  number  of  their  cattle, 
in  the  acreage  under  cultivation,  and  in  the  inventory  of 
their  agricultural  implements. 

By  May  1902,  a  Doukhobor  writing  from  the  South 
Colony  was  able  to  report  that  they  had  sent,  of  their 
superfluity,  about  $4,000  to  the  Doukhobors  in  exile  in 
Siberia,  and  that  they  had  sent  $300  to  aid  the  Pavlovtsi 
(Prince  D.  A.  IlilkbfFs  former  peasants),  who  had  also 


182 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


been  banished  to  Siberia.  They  were  also  by  this  time 
beginning  to  pay  off  the  loan  advanced  by  P.  N.  Biriukova 
and  her  sister,  A.  N.  Sharapova,  to  pay  for  chartering  the 
vessel  that  brought  the  Cyprus  Doukhobors  to  Canada. 
Considering  that  that  loan  had  been  made,  not  to  any 
individuals,  but  collectively  to  a  group  of  more  than  1,000 
people,  none  of  whom  could  probably  have  been  held 
legally  responsible  for  it,  it  is  a  remarkable  instance  of 
Doukhobor  honesty  that  it  should  ever  have  been  repaid, 
and  it  testifies  alike  to  Doukhobor  industry,  and  to  the 
fertility  of  the  soil  of  the  north-west  of  Canada,  that  a 
considerable  loan  advanced  to  a  destitute  group  of  immi¬ 
grants  should  have  been  thus  repaid  within  about  four 
years. 

The  problem  the  Doukhobors  had  practically  to  solve 
in  Canada  was  a  very  curious  one.  The  sect  had,  from 
the  time  it  came  into  existence  (except  for  a  few  years 
at  the  Milky  Waters  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  under 
the  rule  of  Kapoustin),  practised  individual  ownership 
of  property — limited  only  by  the  authority  of  the  Leader, 
by  the  practice  of  co-operative  activity  in  a  variety  of 
public  affairs,  by  free  hospitality  to  all  comers,  and  by 
liberal  contribution  to  those  in  need.  As  we  have  seen, 
Verigin,  in  exile,  had  accepted  the  teachings  of  Tolstoy, 
which  condemn  the  private  ownership  of  property  and 
commend  its  communal  ownership.  These  opinions  Verigin 
had  passed  on  to  the  sect,  which  accepted  them  on  his 
authority,  and  accepted  them  all  the  more  readily  because 
these  views  harmonize  with  the  earlier  doctrines  [of  the 
sect,  as  well  as  with  many  texts  in  the  Bible,  and  corre¬ 
spond  to  the  indignation  naturally  evoked  by  the  contrast 
everywhere  noticeable  between  the  wastefulness  of  the  rich 
and  the  want  suffered  by  the  poor.  Accepting  Verigin’s 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


183 


advice  in  the  Caucasus,  the  sect  had  split  up,  and  amid 
the  strife,  contention,  and  excitement  that  had  followed 
the  breaking  up  of  their  homes  and  the  preparations  for 
migration  to  a  promised  land,  they  had  never  had  time  or 
opportunity  to  realize  exactly  what  they  were  aiming  at. 
Now  in  Canada,  the  time  had  come  to  live  a  “Christian11 
life,  and  to  show  the  advantages  of  communism  over  indi¬ 
vidualism.  The  various  forms  their  attempt  took,  and  the 

continual  drift  from  communism  towards  individualism, 

_ -  >-*.».  <*•  **•.-«  —  •  -  .  ■  -  »■ . 

that  occurred  as  a  result  of  practical  experience,  until 
Verigin  arrived  and  established  a  communist  despotism 
based  partly  on  moral  coercion,  furnish  an  interesting  study. 

From  the  very  start  a  few  families  (some  ten  of  those 
who  settled  in  the  Prince  Albert  district)  took  up  their  own 
“  quarter-sections,11  and  settled  down  on  a  basis  of  private 
ownership,  feeling,  no  doubt,  that  they  had  had  enough 
of  turmoil,  perplexity,  and  strife,  and  that  it  was  time  to 
put  their  undivided  energies  into  a  contest  with  nature  for 
a  livelihood. 

The  Doukhobdrs  without  exception  have  shown  great 
capacity  for  undertaking  such  work  as  road-making,  bridge¬ 
building,  wood-felling,  marsh-draining,  etc.,  collectively. 
They  have  been  accustomed  in  the  past  to  such  co-opera¬ 
tion,  and  can  easily  adapt  themselves  to  it.  What  really 
puzzled  them  was  to  find  out  what  this  communism  com¬ 
mended  by  their  Leader  really  amounted  to.  They  were 
quite  ready  to  say  that  men  must  “live  as  brothers,11 
“live  in  a  Christian  way,11  “not  have  private  property,11 
etc.,  but  the  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  Tolstoyan 
philosophy  (which,  all  unconsciously,  they  were  imbibing 
from  their  Leader)  is  a  negative  philosophy,  the  strength 
and  meaning  of  which  lie  in  its  condemnation  of  the 
injustice  of  existing  arrangements.  As  soon  as  people  try 


184 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


to  adopt  it  as  a  rule  of  life,  they  at  once  find  themselves 
puzzled  as  to  what  they  ought  to  do.  What  is  definite 
in  the  doctrine  is  condemnatory,  and  what  is  commended 
is  commended  merely  to  emphasize  the  criticism  of  modem 
civilized  society. 

Without  quite  realizing  that  “the  Christian  life was 
something  very  indefinite,  which  Tolstoy  himself  had 
imagined  in  different  ways  at  different  times,  the 
Doukhobors  discovered  in  practice  how  variously  different 
men  may  interpret  it,  and  how  easy  it  is  always  to  “go 
one  better  11  in  words  and  in  theory,  condemning  the  actual 
life  any  group  of  men  are  leading,  and  (if  their  consciences 
are  tender)  lacerating  them  and  goading  them  into  break¬ 
ing  up  habits  they  have  begun  to  form,  and  into  constantly 
attempting  something  fresh,  the  defects  of  which  are  not 
yet  so  visible  because  no  one  has  yet  tried  it. 

By  1st  January  1900,  no  less  than  2,215  of  the 
Doukhobors  (or  something  like  one-third)  had  abandoned 
communism,  and  were  settling  down  to  the  use  of  private 
property.  Let  us  glance,  however,  at  a  few-  of  the  various 
forms  of  communism  that  were  attempted. 

Most  of  the  Doukhobors  on  reaching  Canada  fully 
intended  to  live  communally.  Indeed,  in  the  first  instance, 
most  of  them  had  no  choice.  When  all  that  could  be 
afforded  by  a  village,  of  perhaps  180  inhabitants,  was  one 
pair  of  horses  and  one  pair  of  oxen  for  ploughing,  in¬ 
dividualism  was  out  of  the  question.  While  the  struggle 
for  existence  was  most  difficult,  many  of  these  village 
groups  lived  together  very  harmoniously.  Later  on, 
however,  “  an  unpleasant  spirit  of  discord  made  itself  felt, 
so  that  every  impartial  observer  saw  clearly  that  these  folk 
would  greatly  ease  and  improve  their  lives  by  separating/1 

A  cause  that  tended  to  keep  some  groups  together, 


V* 


DOUKHOBORS  AMUSED. 


■ 


. 


*  ' 


f  iHRkfiY 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


185 


which  would  otherwise  have  fallen  asunder  more  quickly, 
was  the  fact  that  most  of  the  contributions  received  from 
the  Friends  (Quakers)  and  from  other  people,  found 
their  way  only  to  the  Communes,  and  not  to  those  Dou¬ 
khobors  who  had  managed  to  start  separately.  Having 
noticed  this,  many  Doukhobors  were  reluctant,  by  leaving 
a  Commune,  to  risk  missing  a  share  in  future  donations. 

At  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  the  South  Colony, 
in  June  1899,  Vasily  Potapof  of  the  village  of  Rodionovka, 
proposed  that  all  the  Doukhobors  should  agree  to  have 
one  common  treasury,  common  warehouses,  stores,  etc. 
The  suggestion  was  approved  of  by  the  meeting,  and  it 
was  decided  to  invite  the  North  Colony  to  join  the  organi¬ 
zation.  The  meeting  of  representatives  of  the  North 
Colony  decided — 

(1)  “That  all  thirteen  villages  of  the  North  Colony 
will  live  communally  and  will  have  a  common  treasury, 
but  that  this  shall  be  done  separately  from  the  South 
Colony,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  distance,  which  makes  it 
difficult  to  consult  one  another  and  to  call  meetings  for 
the  decision  of  public  business.  But  they  ask  the  South 
Colony  to  apply  to  them  for  assistance  in  case  of  any 
need,  and  they  promise  that  it  shall  always  be  rendered  if 
they  have  anything  they  can  give. 

(2)  “  The  flour  at  York  ton  (620  sacks)  will  be  used 
for  themselves,  and  for  all  of  the  South  Colony  who  may 
be  in  need — without  repayment.  Those  in  need  shall 
apply  to  a  Council  of  Elders  which  meets  on  Mondays  in 
the  village  of  Michailovka. 

(3)  “  All  the  money  earned  in  future  is  to  go  to  a 
cashier  chosen  by  the  society,  and  to  be  spent  only  by 
common  consent.”  * 

■  The  minutes  of  this  meeting  were  taken  down  by  L.  SoulerzMtsky. 


186 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


The  attempt  thus  made  by  the  North  Colony  to  have 
a  common  treasury  for  their  thirteen  villages  lasted  about 
two  months.  The  money  earned  by  working  at  railway 
construction  was  duly  paid  into  the  common  treasury, 
but  only  about  half  the  number  of  men  went  to  work  who 
should  have  gone,  and  those  who  went  only  earned  an 
average  of  56  cents  a  day.  Moreover,  some  of  them  took 
clothing,  boots,  etc.,  for  themselves  on  credit,  without 
obtaining  the  committee's  consent.  This  provoked  other 
members  of  the  Commune  who  did  their  work  con¬ 
scientiously!;  and  finally,  after  much  discussion,  it  was 
decided  to  wind  up  the  larger  Commune  and  to  let  each 
village  form  its  own  small  Commune  if  it  chose.  As  soon 
as  this  was  decided,  the  number  of  men  who  went  from 
the  North  Colony  to  the  railway  work  rose  from  150  to 
300,  and  the  earnings  per  head  rose  from  56  cents  a  day 
to  from  80  to  90  cents,  and  even  reached  $1.  The  increase 
is  partly  accounted  for  by  another  cause — namely,  a  change 
that  happened  then  to  occur  in  the  nature  of  the  work. 
But  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  change  from  a  Commune 
of  thirteen  villages  to  the  system  of  separate  village  Com¬ 
munes,  was  the  cause  of  a  large  part  of  the  improvement ; 
and  the  earnings  during  the  last  six  weeks  of  the  autumn's 
work  were  four  times  as  large  as  they  had  been  during  the 
preceding  six  weeks. 

In  the  South  Colony  where  the  proposal  originated, 
we  find  that  by  the  spring  of  1900  most  even  of  the 
village  Communes  themselves  had  fallen  to  pieces  (to  say 
nothing  of  the  larger  Communal  group  Vasily  Potapof 
wished  to  start),  and  nothing  remained  of  his  proposal. 

All  sorts  of  communal  experiments  were  made,  of 
which  it  would  be  tiresome  to  attempt  an  exhaustive 
account.  Flour  was  usually  bought  wholesale  for  the 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


187 


whole  village  and  was  divided  according  to  the  number  of 
people  in  a  household ;  but  in  some  cases  the  division  was 
made  according  to  the  number,  not  of  members,  but  of 
workers.  In  some  villages  special  men  were  appointed  to 
special  communal  duties :  for  instance,  to  manage  the 
horses  or  the  cattle.  In  other  cases  these  duties  had  to 
be  performed  in  rotation  by  each  household.  In  these 
latter  cases  the  horses  and  cattle  generally  suffered,  and  in 
some  instances  even  perished.  Why  this  happened  is 
explained  by  the  following  Doukhobor  fable : — 

44  There  were  once  seven  brothers  who  owned  a  mare, 
but  no  one  of  them  was  its  master.  The  brothers  put 
the  mare  in  the  stable,  and  thought,  4  It  will  be  an  easy 
matter  for  us  seven  to  look  after  it.’  So  the  mare  stood  in 
the  stable,  and  the  brothers  attended  well  to  it.  A  week 
passed,  and  a  second  week,  and  one  day  Ivan  had  no  time  to 
see  to  the  mare.  4  Well,1  thought  he,  4  it  does  not  matter ; 
Peter  will  feed  and  water  it.1  But  Peter  was  thinking  the 
same  about  Ivan.  So  day  passed  after  day,  and  the  mare 
had  been  seven  days  without  food  or  water,  and  what  was 
left  in  the  stable  was  not  worth  calling  a  mare — it  was 
hardly  more  than  its  tail.  Suddenly  the  brothers  noticed 
what  was  happening.  Ah  !  the  mare  is  in  a  bad  way.  It 
can't  stand  on  its  legs,  poor  thing !  .  .  .  The  wind  blows 
it  over !  ...  So  they  set  to  work  to  feed  it  and  to  water 
it.  All  the  brothers  paid  attention  to  the  mare.  The 
mare  got  fed  and  watered  seven  times  a  day.  It  over-ate 
itself,  and  drank  too  much  after  its  hunger  and  thirst,  and 
next  day  it  died  ! 11 

In  some  villages  the  houses  were  built  communally  by 
all  the  inhabitants,  and  they  then  drew  lots  which  family 
was  to  have  which  house.  In  other  villages  each  family 
built  its  own  house  separately,  and,  of  course,  those 


188 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


families  in  which  there  were  fewest  workers  and  most 
children,  old  men,  or  sick  members,  built  houses  which 
were  worse  and  smaller.  According  to  Olhovsky’s  reckon¬ 
ing,  by  January  1900,  there  were  thirty  villages,  with 
3,574  inhabitants  ( i.e .  nearly  half  the  Doukhobor  popula¬ 
tion),  which  should  be  reckoned  as  “  temporary  Com¬ 
munes” — that  is  to  say,  Communes  which,  for  one  reason 
or  other,  did  not  expect  to  endure  long. 

There  were  at  that  time  about  1,600  Doukhobdrs  (say 
nearly  one-fourth  of  the  whole  number)  who  were  living 
in  “permanent  Communes,”  as  contrasted  with  the  “tem¬ 
porary  Communes.” 

These  “  permanent  Communes  ”  Olhovsky  divided  into 
two  categories — first,  those  which  were  characterized  by 
communal  production ;  secondly,  those  which  carried  their 
communism  even  into  their  domestic  arrangements. 
Among  the  first,  the  work  of  production,  as  well  as  the 
stock  of  tools  and  animals,  were  communal ;  but  what 
was  obtained  was  divided  up  according  to  the  number  of 
heads,  and  things  that  had  been  thus  divided  became 
private  property. 

Among  Communes  of  the  second  class,  all  goods, 
whether  produced  by  the  labour  of  their  own  members 
or  purchased,  were  stored  in  communal  storehouses,  and 
were  served  out  to  all  according  to  their  requirements. 
The  tilling  of  the  fields,  the  building  of  the  houses,  and 
in  general  all  the  work,  was  also  done  communally.  In 
such  villages  an  inclination  was  even  shown  to  introduce 
communal  meals,  etc. 

Olhovsky  had  occasion  to  study  the  village  of  Blago- 
darenie  in  the  South  Colony,  very  closely.  It  was  in 
some  ways  the  model  communist  village.  Its  members 
were  exceedingly  honest  men,  strictly  observing  all 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


189 


accepted  Doukhobor  customs.  They  had  everything 
communal  to  the  last  thread.  Nothing  was  divided 
according  to  the  number  of  heads,  but  everything  was 
given  out  only  to  those  who  were  in  present  need  of  it. 
Prominent  among  them  were  two  men  of  considerable 
ability  and  organizing  capacity — Ivan  Strelyaef  and 
Remezof.  They  worked  indefatigably  for  the  others, 
receiving  nothing  more  than  the  poorest  of  their  brethren. 
As  far  as  possible  this  Commune  tried  to  manufacture 
all  it  required  for  its  own  consumption,  at  home.  But 
in  this,  which  seemed  the  most  thorough-going  and  the 
firmest  of  all  the  Communes,  the  social  atmosphere  was 
exceedingly  unpleasant,  and  more  oppressive  than  in 
almost  any  other  village.  The  inhabitants  of  Blago- 
darenie  were  extremely  intolerant  of  any  Doukhobor  who 
swerved  in  the  least  from  the  customs  of  the  sect,  or  who 
did  not  follow  implicitly  the  advice  of  Peter  Verigin,  the 
Leader. 

Olhovsky  was  once  spending  a  night  at  Blagodarenie, 
in  company  with  some  Doukhobdrs  from  the  North 
Colony.  One  of  his  travelling  companions  had  relations 
by  marriage  in  this  village,  whom  he  visited  with  messages 
from  his  wife.  Having  given  the  customary  kiss  to  all 
in  the  house,  he  began  conversation,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  admitted  that  he  (like  many  of  the  North 
Colonists)  had  begun  to  eat  fish. 

“  Why  did  you  not  tell  us  sooner  ?  Do  you  think 
we  should  have  kissed  you  ?v  exclaimed  the  women. 

When  he  took  leave,  they  did  not  kiss  him. 

“  Pm  sure  he  smells  of  fish  now  !  ”  said  one  of  them, 
spitting  contemptuously,  as  he  took  his  departure. 

Another  instance  of  what  went  on  amongst  the 


190 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Doukhobors  is  furnished  by  the  village  of  Voznesenie  in 
the  North  Colony.  Here  the  chief  man  was  Nicholas 
Zibarof,  an  exceedingly  well-intentioned  man  of  great 
practical  ability  as  an  organizer,  and  an  ardent  com¬ 
munist.  Towards  the  end  of  1900,  in  spite  of  his 
personal  influence  some  of  the  Voznesenians  began  to 
argue  in  favour  of  dividing  up  the  stock  of  flour,  instead 
of  keeping  it  in  the  communal  storehouse.  This  had 
proved  in  other  villages  to  be  the  first  step  from  com¬ 
munism  to  individualism,  and  Zibarof  opposed  it  with 
all  his  strength.  At  a  village  meeting  he  and  some  of 
his  friends  announced  that  if  the  proposal  were  carried, 
they  would  at  once  secede  and  settle  elsewhere.  To 
lose  their  most  capable  and  respected  man  would  be  an 
incalculable  loss  for  any  Doukhobor  village,  and  the 
threat  sufficed  to  maintain  the  status  quo.  But  com¬ 
munism  maintained  by  moral  coercion  is  unsatisfactory, 
and  the  hidden  struggle  continued  until  eventually 
Nicholas  Zibarof,  feeling  that  things  could  not  remain 
as  they  were,  felt  moved  to  make  a  further  “advance,” 
and  abandoning  “all  carnal  desires”  and  rejecting  ail 
compromise  between  God  and  Mammon,  took  a  prominent 
part  in  organizing  the  great  Pilgrimage  that  occurred  in 
the  autumn  of  1902,  and  marched  off  to  “glorify  the 
name  of  the  One  God  ”  and  to  “  make  ready  the  path 
of  our  Lord  Jesus.” 

Though  Zibarof  himself  is  a  really  good  man  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  lights,  this  incident  is  characteristic  of  the 
fundamental  difference  between  a  truly  democratic  spirit 
and  the  individualistic  spirit,  allied  to  Tolstoyism,  which 
has  been  fostered  among  the  Doukhobors.  The  demo¬ 
cratic  spirit,  at  its  best,  loves  and  pities  human  beings 
and  tries  to  help  them  as  well  as  it  can.  If  it  devises  new 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


191 


rules  or  principles,  it  does  so  only  to  enable  it  to  help 
men  to  live  better  and  more  harmonious  lives.  It  is  there¬ 
fore  constantly  testing  its  “  principles  ”  by  actual  results, 
and  is  constantly  learning  by  experience. 

The  individualistic  spirit  (exemplified  at  its  very  best 
in  Tolstoy,  but  showing  its  defects  more  clearly  in  some 
of  his  disciples),  on  the  other  hand,  cares  chiefly  for  taking 
its  own  way,  and  maintaining  the  inviolability  of  rules 
it  invents  and  calls  “  principles.”  On  the  altar  of  these 
“principles”  it  is  willing  to  sacrifice  human  friendship 
and  the  happiness  of  any  number  of  human  lives.  To 
test  these  “principles”  by  experience,  and  to  find  them 
wanting,  is  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  can 
be  duly  punished  only  as  Zibarof  threatened  to  punish 
it,  by  withdrawing  from  communion  with  the  sinners,  and 
proceeding  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  God  elsewhere. 
What  one  has  to  remember,  however,  and  what  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  remember,  is  that  zealots  of  the  Zibarof 
type  are  sometimes  quite  sincere,  and  as  ready  to  sacrifice 
themselves  as  they  are  to  sacrifice  other  people.  What 
they  lack  is  a  perception  that  it  is  often  as  cruel  to 
coerce  people’s  consciences  as  it  is  to  coerce  their  bodies. 

One  of  the  most  capable  men  among  the  Doukhobdrs 
is  Paul  Planidin,  of  the  village  of  Terpenie  (of  the  Kars 
folk)  in  the  South  Colony.  Born  of  a  wealthy  Doukhobdr 
family,  he  tells  how  at  his  wedding  (before  the  new  ideas 
were  adopted)  a  hundred  vedros  of  vddka  (say  270  gallons) 
were  drunk.  “Every  one  who  liked  might  come  and 
drink.”  He  has  all  the  instincts  of  a  capable  business 
organizer,  and  is  a  born  leader  of  men.  At  a  meeting 
while  in  quarantine  on  Grosse  Island,  he  stepped  forward 
and  said,  “  Whoever  likes  to  come  and  live  with  me, 


192 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


communally,  let  him  come  here !  ”  One  hundred  and 
fifty-four  of  his  fellows  immediately  ranged  themselves 
under  his  guidance,  and  were  joined  later  on  by  others. 
Plis  plans  then  were  to  give  great  individual  freedom  to 
the  members  of  his  group  ;  but  as  soon  as  he  got  to 
practical  work  his  instincts  as  an  organizer  came  to  the 
front,  and  the  “  Christian  ”  life  of  which  he  had  dreamed 
gave  place  to  a  well-organized,  co-operative,  agricultural 
and  industrial  group,  directed  by  himself  as  a  capable, 
hardworking  and  disinterested  leader.  The  hospitality 
of  the  Terpenie  folk  is  proverbial.  They  have  built 
separate  stables  for  the  horses  of  those  who  spend  a 
night  at  their  village.  Every  one  who  comes,  Doukhobbr 
or  stranger,  is  welcome,  and  will  find  a  meal  and  a  bed 
free  of  all  expense.  There  have  been  instances  in  which 
parties  of  a  hundred  men  returning  from  work  have  all 
been  welcomed  and  entertained  at  Terpenie. 

To  show  how  greatly  the  life  of  a  Doukhobdr  Com¬ 
mune  depends  on  the  personality  of  its  head-man  (rather 
than  on  any  abstract  theories),  the  village  of  Verovka 
(Kars  folk)  in  the  South  Colony,  is  specially  worthy  of 
attention.  Nicholas  Fofanof  is  the  man  around  whom  it 
centres.  He  is  a  modest,  retiring  man  of  great  delicacy 
of  feeling,  not  at  all  inclined  to  push  himself  to  the  front, 
and  always  trying  to  do  some  one  a  good  turn  without  its 
being  noticed.  Three-fourths  of  the  group  that  formed 
around  him  consisted  of  widows,  children,  and  orphans. 
All  the  poorest  of  the  Kars  village  from  which  he  came 
seem  to  have  flocked  to  him  instinctively,  as  w'ell  as 
many  of  the  most  unfortunate  from  other  settlements. 
With  him  they  all  found  sympathy,  encouragement,  and 
help. 

The  folk  who  formed  the  village  of  Verovka,  all  in  all, 


SPINNING. 


Plate  VI. 


LIBRARY 
Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY  Ctf  ILLINOIS 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


193 


only  brought  £6  with  them  to  Canada.  On  reaching  the 
immigration  shelter  at  East  Selkirk,  Fofanof  himself  at 
once  found  employment  at  a  blacksmith's,  and  all  the  other 
men  also  went  off  and  found  work.  The  women  and 
children  gathered  wild  berries,  and  sold  them  to  settlers 
or  in  the  town.  Helped  by  a  small  grant  of  flour  that 
fell  to  their  share,  they  managed  somehow  to  feed  them¬ 
selves,  and  before  long  had  collected  enough  money  to 
buy  one  little  horse.  Moving  on  to  the  land  allotted 
to  them,  they  set  to  work  to  build  their  houses,  and 
before  the  winter  came  they  had  bought  another  horse ; 
and  so,  little  by  little,  they  got  on  with  their  farming, 
until  they  were  as  well  off*  as  other  Doukhobdrs.  Of 
course,  among  them  everything  is  as  thoroughly  communal 
as  it  can  be. 

There  were  many  other  slightly  varying  types  of  com¬ 
munism  to  be  seen  among  the  Doukhobdrs.  Of  their 
whole-hearted  desire  to  carry  out  their  Leader's  instructions, 
and  to  abandon  private  property,  if  only  they  could  find  a 
way  of  living  harmoniously  without  it,  there  is  no  doubt. 
But  the  main  fact  emphasized  by  Olhovsky  is  that, 
generally  speaking  (with  occasional  exceptions),  where  the 
“  new  life  ”  was  most  strictly  carried  out,  there  human 
relations  were  most  strained,  least  natural,  and  least 
healthy.  “  This  absence  of  social  freedom  in  such  Com¬ 
munes  once  again  confirms  the  view,  that  no  coercively 
imposed  social  institutions  and  reforms  (even  though 
imposed  not  by  physical  violence,  but  by  the  moral 
pressure  of  authority)  can  be  fruitful  or  enduring,  however 
excellent  may  be  their  intention  and  their  aim.” 

“  The  attempt,  based  on  the  Christian-religious  opinion 
of  certain  individuals,  and  especially  on  the  wish  of  the 


o 


194 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Leader,  has  but  slight  connection  with  the  minds  or 
economic  habits  of  the  mass  of  the  Doukhobdrs.” 

I  have  heard  Olhovsky  tell  (what  he  repeats  in  the 
articles  referred  to  above)  how  on  the  steamer  he  inquired 
of  different  Doukhobdrs  how  they  would  build  their 
houses  and  villages  in  Canada,  and  how  amazed  he  was  to 
get  almost  the  same  answer  in  almost  the  same  words 
from  all  of  them.  It  was  long  before  the  secret  leaked  out 
that  they  had  learnt  by  heart  a  letter  of  advice  Peter 
Verigin  had  sent  them  from  Siberia.  This  Olhovsky 
only  discovered  when  Verigin’s  mother  chanced  to  show 
him  the  letter  in  question.  None  of  the  Doukhobdrs  who 
quoted  the  letter  had  ever  admitted  that  they  were  not 
expressing  their  own  opinion.  It  is  this  strange  duplicity 
and  secrecy  that  makes  the  investigation  and  discussion 
of  Doukhobor  politics  so  difficult ;  and  it  is  this  also 
which  makes  it  possible  for  Tolstoyans  who,  like  Vladimir 
Tchertkoff,  have  never  visited  the  Doukhobdrs  either  in 
the  Caucasus  or  in  Canada,  to  cling  to  opinions  about 
them  which  are  in  conflict  with  the  evidence  of  every 
competent  Russian  who  has  ever  lived  among  them  for 
more  than  a  couple  of  weeks. 

Olhovsky  says :  “  When  I  questioned  the  Doukhobdrs 
as  to  the  reason  which  led  them  some  ten  years  ago  to 
give  up  the  system  of  private  property  and  to  try  to  live 
and  work  communally,  it  was  long  before  I  could  obtain  a 
definite  and  clear  reply.  They  all  said — 

“  6  What  does  the  law  say  ?  “  Love  thy  neighbour  as 

thyself.”  We,  as  Christians,  ought  to  live  as  Christ 
taught,  and  obey  the  law  of  Christ.’ 

“  ‘  But  why  would  it  not  be  Christian  to  live  in  families, 
working  hard,  helping  the  needy,  acting  honestly,  but 
living,  not  in  Commune,  but  as  separate  households  ?  ’ 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


195 


“Many  of  them  replied  by  again  referring  to  ‘the  law.1 
Others  said,  ‘As  we  are  Christians  of  the  Universal  Brother¬ 
hood,  we  must  live  communally  and  not  separately.1 
Olhovsky  received  many  such  replies,  which,  explaining 
nothing,  merely  showed  that  the  speakers  had  no  clear 
ideas  about  the  plan  which  they  had  so  stubbornly  put  in 
practice  during  the  last  years  of  their  life  in  the  Caucasus. 
Some  few  leading  men  among  them  had  a  clearer  idea  of 
the  ethical  advantages  which  (according  to  certain  teach¬ 
ings  which  have  at  times  been  very  influential  in  Christen¬ 
dom,  and  which  they  accept  as  valid)  belong  to  the  system 
of  communal  property  as  compared  to  the  system  of 
private  property ;  but  Olhovsky  wanted  to  get  at  the 
motive  actuating  the  mass  of  the  people. 

“  After  long  conversations,  which  added  nothing  new, 
one  very  ordinary  old  man,  a  kindly,  sympathetic  fellow, 
most  punctually  performing  his  Doukhobcir  rules,  poor, 
and  most  loyal  to  the  new  ‘  Christian 1  life-conception  they 
had  adopted,  began  a  conversation  with  me,  and  finally — 
before  a  number  of  hearers — said,  ‘  I  have  been  listening  to 
your  questions  for  some  days,  Vladimir,  and  I  understand 
what  you  want  to  know ;  and  I  know  and  see  that  our  lads 
lead  you  a  wild-goose  chase,  and  do  not  tell  you  the  truth. 
We  reap  communally  and  build  storehouses  and  so  on, 
and  wish  to  live  communally  in  Canada,  because  They  *  have 
ordered  us  to  do  so.  Peter  Vasilyevitch  Verigin  has  written 
to  us  about  it,  and  has  sent  word  by  those  who  went  to  see 
him ;  and  what  They  command,  we  perform.  There  are 
some  now  who  do  not  wish  to  do  it ;  but  they  are  ensnared 

*  The  Doukhobors,  when  speaking  Russian,  refer  to  Peter  Verigin  as 
“  They,”  as  a  special  mark  of  respect.  We  have  a  similar  custom  in 
English  :  “  We,  Edward  VII.,  .  .  .  hereby  announce  to  our  loyal 

subjects,”  etc. 


196 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


by  sin — they  have  lost  their  way,  poor  fellows.  Rut  the 
rest  of  us  all  wish  to  do  it.  But  we,  ourselves,  ignorant 
folk  that  we  are,  how  could  we  have  thought  it  out  ?  For 
such  things  a  wise  head  is  needed  ;  but  we  are  at  work  all 
day  long,  and  our  thoughts  do  not  go  that  way.  As  They 
have  attained  to  all  the  wisdom  of  God  and  His  law,  They 
have  given  us  a  good  direction,  and  we  must  carry  it  out 
if  we  wish  to  save  our  souls ;  only,  as  you  see,  our  strength 
is  not  up  to  it.  .  . 

“These  frank  words  from  the  old  man  produced  a 
striking  effect  on  his  hearers ;  they  seemed  to  breathe 
more  happily,  as  though  a  burden  had  fallen  from  them  ; 
they  began  to  speak  about  how  one  ought  to  live,  and  to 
say  that  the  old  man  had  spoken  truly.  But  I  also  noticed 
some  who  were  dissatisfied.  4  You  have  given  us  away,' 
was  what  they  seemed  to  say.1' 

The  extreme  complexity  of  the  problems  presented  by 
the  study  of  the  Doukhobdrs  in  their  transition  stage,  is 
illustrated  by  the  following  passage  of  Olhovsky's  : — 

44  Already,  towards  the  end  of  1899,  I  made  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  some  Doukhobdrs  who,  having  thought  deeply 
and  having  observed  the  lives  of  other  people,  both  while 
in  exile  and  afterwards  in  Canada,  and  having  read  a  little, 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  rites  are  useless,  in¬ 
cluding  even  the  Doukhobor  rites ;  and  that  it  is  useless  to 
go  to  Sunday  meetings,  for  these  also  are  a  ceremony.  They 
had  also  become  convinced  that  all  men  are  made  alike 
and  are  born  equals  ;  that  there  are  no  4  chosen  people,' 
such  as  they  had  esteemed  their  own  sect  to  be,  and  that 
Doukhoborism  is  far  from  being  4  freedom,’  but  represents 
shackles  rather,  and  that  a  far  freer  life  is  possible.  The 
proselytes  of  this  new  movement  were  noted,  and  were  sub¬ 
jected  to  the  persecution  of  public  opinion  ;  and  now  these 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


197 


really  advanced  thinkers  are  obliged  to  leave  the  Dou- 
khobdr  groups  and  to  settle  on  separate  farms.  No  doubt 
with  the  growth  of  true,  free  enlightenment,  such  cases 
of  4  perversion  ’  will  become  more  frequent.1’ 

It  was  difficult  at  first  for  the  Doukhobdrs  and  the 
Canadians  to  understand  one  another,  and  the  good  qualities 
as  well  as  the  limitations  of  the  Doukhobdrs  were  often 
misunderstood,  as  the  following  story  shows.  The  affair 
occurred  in  spring.  A  party  of  Doukhobdrs  were  en¬ 
camped  on  the  bank  of  the  Swan  River,  which  was  very 
full  from  the  melting  snow.  The  ice  had  not  long  broken 
up,  and  the  only  way  of  crossing  was  by  the  ferry.  A 
stout  rope  was  stretched  across  the  river,  and  to  this 
rope  a  floating  wooden  platform  was  attached  at  such  an 
angle  that  the  rush  of  water  pressing  the  platform  served 
to  drive  it  across  the  stream.  The  crossing,  the  river 
being  in  flood,  was  not  very  safe ;  only  a  few  days  before 
this  the  ferry  had  upset,  and  a  Doukhobdr  girl  had  been 
drowned.  Well,  a  two-horsed  conveyance,  containing  a 
man,  a  woman,  and  some  children,  was  seen  to  drive  up 
to  the  opposite  bank.  The  man  got  out  and  beckoned. 
The  Doukhobdrs  saw  that  he  wanted  to  cross,  and  knew 
that  it  was  impossible  to  do  so,  except  on  their  ferry. 
They  therefore  went  over,  and  though  unable  to  under¬ 
stand  a  word  the  Englishman  said,  they  took  over  first 
the  passengers,  then  the  horses,  and  finally,  crossing  for 
a  third  time,  the  conveyance  also.  Next  they  harnessed 
the  horses  to  the  conveyance.  To  have  done  less  for 
a  stranger  in  need  would  have  been  contrary  to  their 
laws  of  hospitality. 

The  Englishman  drew  out  his  purse  and  offered  them 
$2.  This  they  declined,  waving  their  hands.  He,  not 


198 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


understanding  their  words  and  gestures,  and  not  guessing 
that  they  had  rendered  so  considerable  a  service  gratu¬ 
itously,  offered  them  first  $5,  then  $10,  then  $20,  and  when 
they  would  not  accept  even  that,  got  quite  frightened,  and 
— after  speaking  to  his  wife  and  children,  who  pressed  close 
together  and  lifted  up  their  voices  in  dismay — offered  his 
purse  with  all  it  contained.  A  Doukhobor,  seeing  they 
could  not  make  him  understand,  took  him  by  the  sleeve 
of  the  coat,  while  another  led  the  horses,  and  so  they 
brought  him  and  the  conveyance  to  where  an  interpreter 
could  be  found,  who  explained  to  the  Englishman  that 
the  Doukhobors  had  only  done  what  they  would  have 
done  for  any  stranger,  and  that  it  would  be  contrary  to 
their  customs  to  take  payment  for  such  a  service. 

When  the  Doukhobdrs  went  out  to  do  navvy  work  on 
the  railways,  and  it  became  known  that  they  held  them¬ 
selves  bound  by  the  rule,  “  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil,'1  and 
understood  it  to  mean  that  they  were  never  to  use  physical 
force  against  any  one,  some  ill-conditioned  Canadians  took 
advantage  of  this  to  inflict  very  real  hardships  upon  them  : 
spitting  into  their  tea  or  porridge,  preventing  their  sleep¬ 
ing,  popping  bits  of  meat  into  their  soup  (knowing  them 
to  be  vegetarians),  etc.  This  was  done  chiefly  to  provoke 
the  Doukhobdrs  to  resistance.  Usually  the  Doukhobdrs 
endured  it  all  with  outward  calm,  only  expressing  in  con¬ 
versation  the  annoyance  and  anger  they  could  not  help 
feeling.  Many  of  them  were  by  such  treatment  embittered 
against  the  Canadians,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  their 
disinclination  to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  the  Government, 
and  their  readiness  to  believe  slanders  against  any  one 
who  is  not  a  Doukhobor,  was  strengthened  by  such 
thoughtless  and  brutal  conduct.  It  connects  itself  in 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


190 


their  mind  with  the  fact  that  the  English  Government  is 
constantly  at  war,  ordering  men  to  be  killed  in  distant 
countries  for  reasons  that  no  plain  man  can  understand. 

One  undertaking  which  for  a  time  promised  to  be 
very  successful,  was  a  co-operative  store  for  the  North 
Colony,  managed  by  Nicholas  Zibarof,  and  started  by  a 
gift  of  $2,000  from  one  of  the  Russians  who  had  come 
out  to  Canada  with  the  Doukhobdrs.  This  store  worked 
very  well  for  a  while,  but  it  was  wound  up  at  the 
time  of  the  ill-fated  Pilgrimage  described  in  the  next 
chapters. 

When  the  Doukhobdrs  first  reached  Canada,  their 
buying  was  done  for  them  by  the  Russian  and  English 
friends  who  were  there  to  help  them ;  but  after  some 
months  most  of  these  friends  wished  to  return  home,  and 
the  question  arose,  How  were  the  Doukhobdrs  to  manage 
this  matter  for  themselves  ?  It  was  proposed  that  a 
permanent  committee  of  three  Doukhobdr  Elders,  to 
represent  the  different  Colonies,  should  reside  in  York  ton 
to  attend  to  the  purchasing  of  supplies.  This  proposal, 
however,  met  with  considerable  opposition  from  sundry 
members  of  the  South  Colony,  who  were  strong  adherents 
of  Peter  Verigin’s,  and  who  apparently  considered  that 
there  was  something  dangerous  in  choosing  Elders.  Fedya 
Novokshenof  was  conspicuous  among  these,  and  in  reply 
to  every  argument,  he  said,  “It  is  not  the  law.  As  we 
are  Christians  and  have  abolished  Elders,  we  don’t  want 
any  Elders/’  It  was  no  use  explaining  to  him  the  advan¬ 
tages  and  the  necessity  of  making  some  arrangements  for 
the  economical  purchase  of  supplies  ;  he  and  his  sup- 
porters  prevented  any  definite  conclusion  from  being 
reached.  In  reality  the  committee  was  formed,  carried  on 


200 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


operations,  and  its  services  were  utilized  by  nearly  all  the 
villages ;  but  it  was  evident  from  the  first  that  it  was  not 
likely  to  endure  in  the  face  of  so  sturdy  an  opposition. 

A  fact  well  worth  noticing  is  that  those  villages 
which  were  made  up  of  people  who  had  been  scattered 
about  in  banishment  in  the  Caucasus,  and  had  conse¬ 
quently  come  in  contact  with  people  of  various  kinds, 
were  the  quickest  in  Canada  to  understand  and  to  support 
any  arrangements  for  the  common  benefit  which  happened 
not  to  be  in  accord  with  old  customs  or  with  advice 
received  from  the  Leader. 

With  regard  to  the  land  question  Olhovsky  gives  an 
account  which  quite  agrees  with  all  that  I  had  learnt 
from  other  sources.  He  says  that  when  the  Doukhobors 
first  reached  Canada  they  were  quite  ready  to  accept  the 
land  on  the  conditions  laid  down  by  the  Immigration 
Department.  Captain  Arthur  St.  John  was  busily 
occupied  for  some  time  surveying  the  land  they  intended 
to  take  up.  In  the  North  Colony  a  list  was  prepared  of 
all  who  were  old  enough  to  claim  a  “  quarter-section.” 
Soulerzhitsky  and  H.  P.  Archer  prepared  a  plan  of  the 
land  wanted  for  this  Colony.  Only  a  delay  in  the  arrival 
of  the  Government  surveyor  hindered  the  whole  matter 
from  being  settled.  But  by  the  spring  of  1900  the 
Doukhobors  had  begun  to  change  their  minds.  Some  mis¬ 
understandings  had  occurred  between  the  local  authori¬ 
ties  and  the  Doukhobors,*  and  the  latter  were  now  to 
show  the  suspiciousness  and  obstinacy  of  their  nature. 
The  great  mischief-maker  was  Alexander  Bodyansky,  a 

*  Joseph  Elkinton,  in  his  book  The  Doukhobors,  says,  “  A  most  unjust 
seizure  of  a  valuable  horse  by  a  school  district  trustee  as  a  fine  for  the 
refusal  to  pay  a  school  tax  of  $3,  .  .  .  had  thoroughly  outraged  the  whole 
community  settled  near  Yorkton.  By  what  warrant  such  an  act  was 
perpetrated  no  one  could  explain.” 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


201 


Russian  of  good  education  and  means,  who  risked  nothing 
himself  by  inducing  these  poor  peasants  to  refuse  to 
submit  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and  who  eventually 
returned  to  Europe  and  left  them  to  get  out  of  the 
difficulties  in  which  he  had  involved  them,  as  best  they 
could.  He  carried  on  an  impassioned  agitation  among 
them  on  the  theme  that  here,  in  Canada,  they  should 
maintain  their  independence ;  and  that  as  the  earth  is 
God’s,  there  should  be  no  private  property  in  land,  and, 
consequently,  to  register  any  part  of  it  is  wrong.  He 
also  contended  that  it  is  wrong  to  register  births,  deaths, 
and  marriages,  as  it  is  no  business  of  the  Canadian 
Government  to  know  what  Doukhobors  have  died,  or 
married,  or  been  born  :  all  these  matters  being  “  in  God’s 
hands.” 

At  another  time  Bodyansky  might  have  played  the 
fool  without  harming  anybody.  But  his  agitation 
happening  to  coincide  with  the  suspicious  state  of  mind 
the  Doukhobors  were  in,  he  succeeded  in  fomenting* 
troubles  which  lasted  for  three  years,  and  were  only 
partially  settled  in  1903,  when  Verigin  reached  Canada 
and  bade  the  Doukhobors  do  almost  all  the  things  which 
Bodyansky  had  half  persuaded  them  not  to  do. 

AVhat  induced  them  to  tolerate  Bodyansky’s  agitation 
at  all  was  their  secret  wish  to  have  land  ceded  to  them 
en  bloc  and  free  of  all  conditions,  so  that  they  could  found 
an  independent  “  Doukhoboria”  with  their  own  laws  and 
their  own  ruler. 

The  registration  of  marriages,  or  rather  the  divorce 
law  of  Canada,  was  objectionable  to  the  Doukhobors 
because  they  consider  that  marriage  is  a  free  union  of  two 
people  “  when  there  is  love  on  both  sides.”  When  love 
disappears  (even  though  only  on  one  side)  that  furnishes 


202 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


in  their  eyes,  a  quite  sufficient  reason  for  divorce,  which 
may  be  followed  by  a  re-marriage. 

Speaking  of  the  various  appeals  and  pronouncements 
composed  by  Bodyansky,  signed  by  various  Doukhobdrs, 
and  reproduced  by  the  Press  in  almost  all  European 
languages,  Olhovsky  remarks — 

44  If  we  look  for  the  political  meaning  of  all  this 
protest,  we  shall  reach  the  conclusion  that  in  general  the 
protesting  Doukhobdrs,  under  a  Christian  phraseology 
cleverly  hid  their  real,  secret  wish — to  form  a  completely 
independent  State,  paying  4  tribute  1  to  the  suzerain 
power,  but  having  tlieir  own  laws,  their  own  customs,  and 
governed  by  their  own  Leader. 

44  The  4  Law  of  God,’  to  which  they  so  often  appealed 
in  their  proclamations,  bade  them  do  what  they  wished  to  do .” 

What  they  chiefly  demanded  from  the  Canadian 
Government  was — 44  to  allot  (them)  land  for  settlement 
and  for  farming  ...  in  one  common  lot,  without  divid¬ 
ing  what  part  belongs  to  whom.11 

44  This  demand 11  (says  Olhovsky)  44  does  not  at  all 
indicate  that  the  Doukhobdrs  deny  the  right  of  possessing 
landed  property.  Nothing  of  the  kind !  Though  they 
frequently  referred  to  land  as  being  4  God's,1  and  said 
that  God  is  the  only  owner  of  it,  they  themselves, 
Doukhobdrs,  4  knowing  all  God's  truth,'  knew  very  well 
indeed  how  to  divide  up  this  4  property  of  God's  1  among 
themselves. 

44 1  have  often  had  occasion  at  Doukhobdr  meetings 
to  note  how  carefully  and  punctiliously  they  investigate 
all  cases  of  disagreement  about  the  land,  and  how  strictly 
they  define  the  mutual  rights  of  neighbouring  villages  : 
by  whom,  when,  where,  and  how  timber  may  be  felled*, 
meadows  mown,  etc." 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


203 


In  connection  with  this  agitation,  three  different 
tendencies  were  noticeable  among  the  Doukhobdrs.  First, 
there  were  some,  scattered  in  all  three  districts,  but 
specially  strong  in  the  Prince  Albert  Colony  (Saskatche¬ 
wan),  and  near  the  Devil’s  Lake  (euphemistically  called 
also  44  Good  Spirit  Lake  ”),  who  took  up  their  homesteads 
in  accordance  with  Canadian  laws  and  agreed  to  render 
vital  statistics.  These  were  chiefly  Doukhobdrs  who  had 
lived  in  the  Kars  or  Elizavetpdl  districts  of  the  Caucasus, 
and  included  most  of  those  who  were  well-to-do  and  had 
property  of  their  own.  This  last  fact  was  by  itself 
enough  to  cause  the  44  Cyprus  ”  Doukhobdrs  to  hold 
them  in  continual  condemnation. 

Next  came  a  large  section  who  swayed  from  side  to 
side.  They  took  Verigin’s  interpretation  of  Tolstoy’s 
interpretation  of  the  teaching  attributed  to  Christ,  as 
representing  “  God’s  truth  ;  ”  but  they  did  not  quite  shut 
their  eyes  to  all  the  lessons  of  experience,  and  still  wished 
their  labour  to  be  productive,  their  relations  with  their 
neighbours  to  be  harmonious,  and  the  order  of  their  lives 
to  be  definite  and  settled. 

Lastly,  came  the  zealots :  44  God’s  truth  ”  (as  defined 
above)  was  the  one  and  only  consideration  for  them. r  If 
the  44  new  life  ”  and  the  44  law  of  God  ”  proved  unworkable, 
this  could  only  be  because  they  had  not  carried  it  far 
enough ;  so  the  agitation  and  unrest  among  them  increased, 
and  they  became  more  and  more  unreasonable,  until  at 
last  their  fanaticism  led  to  the  events  recorded  in  the  next 
chapters. 

One  cannot  follow  the  perturbed  movement  of  these 
very  sincere  and  worthy,  but  very  ignorant,  folk,  without 
being  conscious  of  the  responsibility  that  belongs  to 
those  educated  men  who  weave  social  theories,  and  by 


204 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

literary  skill  hypnotize  others  into  staking  their  lives  on 
the  validity  of  such  theories. 

We  are  becoming  increasingly  conscious  of  the  meanness 
of  the  imperialism  that  induces  statesmen  who  sit  at  home 
in  perfect  safety,  to  stake  the  lives  of  thousands  of  their 
fellow  mortals  on  the  games  of  diplomatic  bluff*  they  play  ; 
but  what  has  hardly  been  sufficiently  noticed  is  the  moral 
responsibility  incurred  by  men  who  to  accentuate  their 
own  argument,  or  to  find  striking  examples  of  their  pet 
theory,  take  liberties  with  the  truth  (or  are  careless  in 
their  observation  of  facts),  and  thus  mislead  other  men  into 
positions  that  expose  them  to  needless  strife,  and  often 
wreck  their  whole  lives. 

As  to  the  Doukhobdrs,  one  feels  that  they  were  indeed 
as  sheep  without  a  shepherd  during  those  trying  years.  The 
perplexity  of  their  mental  perceptions  was,  however,  often 
hidden  by  the  great  dexterity  and  force  with  which  they 
expressed  the  bits  of  Tolstoyan  philosophy  which  had 
filtered  through  to  them  and  happened  to  fit  in  with  their 
own  aims. 

Take,  for  instance,  this  Doukhobor  account  of  the 
meeting  held  28th  December,  1901,  at  Voznesenie  (North 
Colony),  when  a  representative  of  the  Canadian  Govern¬ 
ment,  accompanied  by  Harley,  immigration  agent  from 
Swan  River,  discussed  the  land  question  with  them. 

After  inquiring  how  many  Doukhobdrs  wrere  entitled 
to  take  up  “  homesteads,”  the  official  said — 

“  All  right,  but  each  of  you  must  enter  his  name  for  a  particular 
homestead,  and  must  sign  a  paper.” 

aWe  will  not  give  the  names,”  replied  we,  “and  will  sign  no 
papers.  We  will  reckon  up  how  much  land  is  due  to  our  thirteen 
villages,  and  will  pay  you  the  money  in  full  ;  and  then  no  one  of 
you  Government  people  will  have  anything  further  to  do  with  us. 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


205 


As  to  the  roads,  we  will  keep  them  in  repair,  as  we  have  already 
promised  you.’* 

“That  won’t  do  !  ”  shouted  the  official. 

“  Why  won’t  it  do?’’  replied  we.  “Has  not  the  Lord  Christ 
said  that  we  are  all  brethren,  and  should  live  as  brothers  without 
dividing  up  ?  That  is  what  we  wish  to  do — to  fulfil  his  will.’’ 

“  I  have  heard  that  before,  but  the  Government  does  not  allow 
it.  Each  man,  from  sixty  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  must  enter  for 
his  homestead  and  must  work  it,  or  else  the  Government  gets  no 
advantage,  and  there  will  be  no  profit.” 

“  But  what  does  it  matter  to  you,’’  said  we,  “  whether  we  work 
our  farms  or  not?  We  will  pay  you  the  money,  and  then  you  will 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  us.” 

“  No  ;  land  is  not  granted  on  such  terms,”  replied  he.  “  We 
must  have  entries  in  due  form.  From  the  land  that  is  cultivated, 
we  all,  from  the  Prime  Minister  to  the  last  policeman,  have  to  live.” 

“  We  have  long  been  persecuted,’’  said  we,  “for  not  wishing  to 
obey  human  laws  and  institutions.” 

Then  the  official  became  so  angry  that  he  trembled  all  over, 
bounced  on  his  chair,  and  began  to  say — 

“  Have  you  come  here  to  alter  the  laws  of  Canada  ?  ” 

“  If  you,”  said  wre,  “  cannot  alter  selfish,  human  laws,  it  is  many 
times  harder  and  more  terrible  for  us  to  alter  the  law  of  God.”  * 

The  official  thought  awhile  and  again  became  angry,  and  so  we 
went  on  for  fully  five  hours. 

“  We  see,”  said  we  to  him,  “that  you  are  exposing  us  to  perse¬ 
cution  and  suffering.  We  see  that  there  is  no  freedom  here  in 
Canada  as  you  used  to  assure  us  ;  it  is  all  a  pretence.” 

“This  is  your  last  chance  !”  shouted  the  official.  “Next 
Tuesday,  December  31,  the  Ministry  will  meet  and  will  judge  your 
case.” 

“  J udge  it  as  you  like,”  said  we  ;  “  only  remember  that  you 
promised  us  free  land.  We  will  pay  you  $10  for  each  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  and  then  you  must  leave  us  alone.  If  you  had  not 
promised  us  liberty,  we  would  have  stayed  in  Russia.  We  did  not 
come  to  seek  land,  but  freedom.  All  nations  and  Governments  are 


*  A  trick  the  Doukhobors  and  Tolstoyans  have  borrowed  from  the 
older  sects  (and  use  with  great  effect),  is  to  beg  the  question  as  to  the 
validity  of  their  interpretations ,  by  confidently  speaking  of  them  as 
principles,”  or  “  Christ’s  law,”  or  the  “  law  of  God.” 


206 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


the  same  to  us.  We  do  not  belong  to  any  Government  organization. 
Wherever  we  may  live  we  are  and  always  shall  be  The  Universal 
Brotherhood. 

“  And  we  also  are  brothers  and  Christians/’  replied  the  official ; 
“but  all  that  is  customary  and  demanded  by  law  you  must  fulfil. 
We  do  not  charge  for  the  land,  but  for  the  surveying  and  the 
writing  that  has  to  be  done.  .  .  .  From  the  land  you  plough,  and 
from  your  produce,  the  officials  must  get  their  salaries.  .  . 

“  We  cannot  take  the  land  in  accordance  with  your  regulation.” 

et  Then  you  do  not  want  the  land  ?  ”  cried  he,  angrily. 

“  Of  course  we  want  it !  We  want  the  land,  but  do  not  wish  to 
take  part  in  your  fetters,  because  they  sicken  us  and  are  a  sin  !  ’’ 

And  so  we  broke  up  and  drove  away  ;  we  do  not  know  what  will 
come  of  it. 

Let  us  compare  this  report  of  a  meeting  in  the  North 
Colony  in  December  1901,  with  a  very  different  report 
written  by  Vasily  Vereshagin,  as  instructed  by  a  meeting 
of  the  Prince  Albert  Doukhobors  held  in  autumn  1900. 

Here  in  Canada  we  believe  a  man  cannot  be  left  without  bread 
to  eat.  In  the  first  place,  Canada  allows  full  liberty,  and  we  have 
been  granted  freedom  from  military  service.  Secondly,  freedom  of 
religious  belief  is  allowed.  Yes  ;  and  in  Canada  there  are  many 
different  nationalities,  and  all  have  full  liberty.  Thirdly,  in  Canada 
things  are,  one  may  say,  based  on  God’s  law ;  for  instance,  the 
freehold  of  land  is  sold  for  about  seven  cents  an  acre.  * 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  inhabitants  of  Canada  live  very  peace¬ 
fully  ;  they  do  not  rob  or  murder.  Fifthly,  in  Canada,  a  plain 
workman  for  ten  hours’  work  may  earn  as  much  as  $1.50,  or  $2, 
and  there  is  much  else  that  might  be  said. 

So  we  see  that,  in  1900,  the  Prince  Albert  Doukhobors 
held  that  to  obtain  the  freehold  of  land  cheaply  was 
according  to  “  God’s  law,”  while  in  1901  the  North  Colony 
Doukhobors  felt  that,  if  any  Canadian  officials  interfered  in 

*  Vereshagin  evidently  alludes  to  the  fee  of  $10  paid  by  the 
Doukhobors  for  their  “quarter-section  ”  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres. 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


207 


their  affairs  after  they  had  paid  entry  fees  for  their  land, 
such  action  would  deprive  them  of  their  liberty,  and  would 
be  tantamount  to  persecuting  them  for  fidelity  to  the  law 
of  Christ,  and  for  allegiance  to  The  Universal  Brotherhood. 

Another  side  of  their  objection  to  Government  is  shown 
in  a  letter  of  N.  I.  Doutchenko,  a  Russian  who  when  he 
was  in  banishment  in  the  Caucasus,  some  years  ago,  lived 
among  the  Doukhobors,  and  who  has  now  settled  near 
them  in  Canada.  His  letter  is  dated  February  20,  1902. 

The  Doukhobors,  have,  of  course,  been  forbidden  to  cut  timber. 
It  was  announced  to  them  that  after  New  Year’s  Day  they  would 
not  be  allowed  to  cut  trees  without  taking  out  permits.  They  paid 
no  particular  attention  to  this,  but  went  on  cutting.  An  official 
came  to  Kamenka  the  other  day,  and  noted  the  timber  that  had 
been  carted  during  the  winter.  I  do  not  know  if  they  will  have  to 
pay  for  it,  or  whether  they  will  be  fined. 

The  Doukhobors  detest  the  methods  of  this  Government.  For 
instance  :  a  light  sledge  arrives  at  the  village,  and  drives  up  and 
down  it.  When  it  comes  to  a  pile  of  timber,  a  man  gets  out  of  the 
sledge.  He  looks  like  anybody  else  (he  might  be  either  an  official 
or  a  farmer)  and  he  begins  to  calculate  and  measure  up  the  timber. 
Of  course  the  Doukhobors  come  out. 

“  Good  day  ! ?> 

“  Good  day  !  ”  But  the  man  goes  on  with  his  calculating. 

When  he  has  looked  around,  and  calculated,  he  gets  into  the 
sledge,  says  “  Good-bye,”  and  drives  off. 

There  are  no  threatening  speeches  and  no  abuse,  but  yet  they 
(the  Doukhobors)  feel  that  what  should  be  done,  will  be  done,  and 
will  be  done  firmly. 

That  is  what  they  hate  ! 

Olhovsky  says  : — 

“  Daring  the  whole  of  1901  and  1902  and  1903,  the 
Doukhobors  were  on  tenterhooks  of  expectation  for  the 
arrival  of  Peter  Verigin,  their  Leader. 

“  Nine-tenths  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  agitation 


208 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


had  one  thing  chiefly  in  view,  namely,  somehow  to  keep 
things  in  suspense  till  Verigin's  arrival  (which  was  at  first 
expected  in  the  autumn  of  1902),  and  to  arrange  every¬ 
thing  then  in  accord  with  his  wishes.  The  letters  that  had 
arrived  from  Verigin  did  not  show  definitely  whether  he 
approved  of  Canada  or  not,  but  his  injunction  4  not  to  go 
in  for  large  buildings,'  not  4  to  immerse  yourselves  in  hus¬ 
bandry,'  warned  the  sect  that  they  might  perhaps  have  to 
migrate  from  Canada.  Moreover,  no  one  knew  whether  it 
was  Peter  Verigin's  wish  to  found  a  completely  independent 
4  Doukhoboria,'  or  whether  (as  the  Kars  Doukhobors  main¬ 
tained)  he  would  externally  submit  to  the  Canadian  Govern¬ 
ment,  while  continuing  to  rule  autocratically  within 
the  Commune,  regarding  himself  and  his  people  as 
tributaries  of  Canada.  The  protesting  Doukhobors  con¬ 
sidered  that  an  independent  4 Doukhoboria'  would  be 
more  pleasing  to  God,  and  therefore  agitated  for  it." 

At  last,  in  the  autumn  of  1902,  the  news  of  the  long- 
expected  liberation  of  Peter  Verigin  from  exile  in  Obdorsk 
was  received.  The  Doukhobors  at  once  remitted  sums  of 
$1,000  to  five  different  towns  through  one  or  other  of 
which  they  thought  he  might  pass,  in  order  that  They 
might  not  be  put  to  any  inconvenience  for  want  of  funds. 

The  population  which  had  been  living  in  a  state 
of  tension  for  many  months,  now  became  yet  more 
excited.  All  sorts  of  rumours  flew  about,  disturbing  and 
inflaming  their  minds.  The  most  enthusiastic  of  them 
tramped  from  village  to  village  and  preached  that  44  the 
time  has  come  to  show  ourselves  to  the  world,"  and  that 
44  it  has  been  said that  44  Christians  should  not  work,  but 
should  go  into  all  the  earth  and  proclaim  the  truth." 

Most  fortunately  Verigin,  on  his  way  from  Siberia  to 
Canada,  visited  Tolstoy.  Tolstoy,  however  strongly  he  may 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  CANADA 


209 


hold  his  opinions,  and  however  onesided  those  opinions 
may  sometimes  be,  is  humane,  and  does  not  wish  to  see  a 
people  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  an  abstract  theory.  When 
he  met  Verigin  he  appears  to  have  given  moderate  counsels, 
and  to  have  supplied  his  visitor  with  arguments  with  which 
to  rebut  the  extreme  conclusions  at  which  the  ultra- 
Tolstovans  and  ultra- Veriginites  had  arrived. 

When  I  talked  with  Verigin  in  London  on  his  way  to 
Canada,  he  professed  to  be  still  quite  undecided  as  to  the 
line  he  would  take,  and  as  to  the  extent  to  which  he  was 
prepared  to  support  the  pilgrim  movement ;  but  on  his 
arrival  in  Canada,  he  promptly  and  firmly  used  his 
authority  to  check  the  worst  excesses  that  the  zealots  of 
the  sect  had  indulged  in. 


F 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 

From  1895  to  1898,  to  those  who,  like  myself,  heard  of  it 
from  Tolstoyan  sources  only,  the  Doukhobor  movement — 
at  least  in  its  main  features — seemed  intelligible  enough. 

That  the  growth  of  militarism  in  modern  Europe 
is  a  terrible  burden  to  the  working  classes,  is  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt.  It  is,  indeed,  “a  game  that,  were 
their  subjects  wise,  kings  would  not  play  at.”  Tolstoy 
announced  that  in  Christian  Russia,  at  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  men  were  being  done  to  death  for 
objecting  to  learn  to  slay  their  fellows.  This  was  the 
main  point. 

What  else  was  reported  of  the  Doukhobdrs  :  that  they 
shared  all  things  in  common ;  were  vegetarians  and  total 
abstainers  from  intoxicants ;  had  solved  the  problem  of 
combining  the  equal  well-being  of  each  with  peace  and 
good  order  in  the  community  and  an  entire  rejection  of 
all  man-made  law;  that  they  acknowledged  no  government 
that  was  not  purely  voluntary,  needed  no  laws  except  the 
moral  law,  and  acknowledged  no  king  but  God, — admitted 
of  doubt  and  called  for  further  inquiry.  The  plain  and 
primary  point,  however,  was  that  the  Russian  Government 
wanted  the  young  Doukhobdrs  to  serve  in  the  army,  and 
that,  they  collectively  and  individually  refused,  and  were 

210 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


211 

supported  in  their  refusal  by  their  families  and  a  large  part 
of  their  sect. 

The  7,363  Doukhobors  who  went  to  Canada  received  a 
hearty  welcome  there.  What  looked  like  a  great  victory 
for  peace  principles  had  been  achieved,  and  a  fine  example 
of  passive  resistance  to  militarism  given  to  the  world. 

That  was  Tolstoy’s  view.  In  Two  Wars  he  wrote  : — 

“  The  struggle  of  the  Doukhobors  has  opened  the  eyes  of  millions. 

I  know  hundreds  of  military  men,  old  and  young,  who,  owing  to  the 
persecution  of  the  gentle  industrious  Doukhobors,  have  begun  to  doubt 
the  morality  of  their  own  activities.  And  the  Government  that  is 
tyrannizing  over  millions  of  people  knows  this,  and  feels  that  it  has  > 
been  struck  to  the  very  heart.  .  .  .  And  not  to  the  Russian  Govern¬ 
ment  alone  are  these  consequences  of  importance  ;  every  Government 
founded  upon  violence  and  upheld  by  armies  is  wounded  in  the 
same  way.” 

Alas !  Wheat  and  tares  grow  together  in  all  men,  in 
all  sects,  and  in  all  human  affairs  !  The  Doukhobors,  as 
we  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter,  soon  showed  themselves 
less  reasonable,  less  easy  to  understand,  and  less  willing  to 
consider  other  people,  than  had  been  anticipated. 

First  came  the  news  that  they  objected  to  make  entry 
for  their  homesteads  in  accordance  with  Canadian  law  and 
custom.  Then,  they  objected  to  register  births  and  deaths, 
or  to  allow  official  cognizance  to  be  taken  of  their  marriages 
and  divorces.  Next,  some  of  them  objected  to  paying  the 
light  Canadian  road  tax,  almost  the  only  tax  they  were 
called  on  to  pay.  In  February  1901,  an  eccentric  man 
named  Bodyansky,  who  had  gone  among  them,  issued  in 
their  name  an  “  Address  to  All  People,”  explaining  their 
disapproval  of  the  laws  of  Canada,*  and  inquiring — 

*  Several  of  those  who  had  assisted  the  migration  exerted  themselves 
to  show  the  Doukhobors  that,  however  good  their  intentions  might  be, 
they  were  not  acting  reasonably,  nor  showing  due  consideration  for  their 


212 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


“  Whether  there  is  anywhere  such  a  country  and  such  a  human 
society,  where  we  would  be  tolerated,  and  where  we  could  make  our 
living,  without  being  obliged  to  break  the  demands  of  our  conscience 
and  of  the  Truth.5’ 

This  was  followed  by  a  special  appeal  to  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey  in  the  same  strain  ;  and  to  these  and  other  appeals 
drawn  up  by  Bodyansky,  a  number  of  representative  Dou- 
khobdrs  signed  their  names.  Presently  the  Doukhobdrs 
refused  to  accept  a  settlement  of  the  land  difficulty  on 
terms  they  had  themselves  proposed  in  the  “  Address.” 
Finally  it  became  evident  that  they  themselves  did  not 
know  what  they  wanted  ;  and  that  they  were  suspicious 
not  merely  of  the  present  Canadian  Government,  but  of 
any  kind  of  government  except  their  own, — the  real  nature 
of  which  they  were  unwilling  to  explain  even  to  those  who 
were  helping  them. 

A  single  instance  will  suffice  to  show  the  hollowness 
of  the  agitation  Bodyansky  promoted. 

During  the  year  1900  the  Doukhobdrs  (Bodyansky 
acting  as  spokesman)  protested  against  making  private 
property  of  44  God’s  earth.”  They  wrote  :  44  There  is  no 
justification  for  a  man  who,  knowing  the  law  of  God,  takes 
as  his  own  what  was  not  produced  by  his  labour,  but  was 
created  by  God  for  the  use  of  all  men  :  there  is  no  justifica¬ 
tion  for  a  man  who,  knowing  the  law  of  God,  makes  private 
property  of  land.”  At  that  very  time  the  Doukhobdrs  of 
the  village  in  which  Bodyansky  resided,  and  in  whose  name 
he  wrote,  were  trying  to  expel  a  settler  who  had  resided 

Canadian  neighbours.  On  the  other  hand,  a  section  of  the  Tolstoyans 
seemed  never  tired  of  pouring  oil  on  the  flames  of  Doukhobor  unrest. 
The  New  Order  of  June-July  1901,  contained  an  editorial  note  headed 
Christian  Martyrdom  in  Canada ,  declaring  that — “The  doings  of  the 
Doukhobdrs  should  be  made  known  as  widely  as  possible.  The  Doukho¬ 
bdrs  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.” 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


for  twelve  years  on  land  they  considered  to  be  within 
their  territory,  but  who,'  they  thought,  had  omitted  the 
legal  formalities  necessary  to  secure  the  land  for  himself. 

It  would  not,  however,  be  fair  to  conclude  from  this 
that  the  agitation  was  deliberate  humbug  either  on 
Bodyansky's  part  or  on  theirs.  Both  he  and  they  were 
driving  at  objects  that  seemed  to  them  important,  though 
neither  he  nor  they  showed  any  due  appreciation  of  the 
obligation  of  truthfulness ;  which  is,  indeed,  as  rare  among 
zealots  as  among  other  people. 

Bodyansky  himself  was  a  theorizer  and  dreamer  of  a 
type  not  uncommon  in  Russia :  men  whose  opinions  are 
never  disturbed  by  facts,  for,  if  aware  of  facts,  they  use 
them  not  to  check  but  merely  to  illustrate  their  theories. 
Men  of  this  type  are  not  troubled  about  the  perplexity 
and  annoyance  their  vagaries  cause  to  other  people.  They 
care  not  so  much  for  people  as  for  principles  ;  that  is  to  say, 
not  for  live  men  and  women,  but  for  the  last  new  crotchets 
that  may  have  entered  their  own  heads. 

Among  the  Doukhobdrs  Bodyansky  found  his  oppor¬ 
tunity.  As  a  ventriloquist  sometimes  uses  a  big  doll  with 
a  movable  head,  so  he  used  the  sect  as  a  dummy  which 
served  to  attract  attention  to  the  “  principles  ”  he  put  into 
its  mouth. 

Writing  to  a  friend  when  the  game  was  up,  Bodyansky 
tells  how,  during  his  absence  in  California,  the  Doukho¬ 
bdrs  had  spoiled  a  project  he  had  started,  which  included 
the  establishment  of  a  central  office  in  Yorkton  to  tran¬ 
sact  business  for  the  colony,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
Doukhobdr  library  and  drug-store.  He  mentions  certain 
“slanders"  directed  against  himself  which  induced  him  to 
withdraw ;  and  tells  how  the  communal  capital,  the  books, 
and  the  medicines  were  divided  up,  and  the  attempt 


214 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


abandoned.  He  adds  :  “  I  expect  the  Doukhobdrs  will  in 
time  have  all  they  need — library,  drug-store,  and  much 
else ;  but  it  will  not  be  till  the  initiative  comes  from  men  of 
their  own  group ,  prompted  to  such  undertakings  by  ex¬ 
perience  of  life.  No  initiative  from  outside  can  give  them 
anything.  No  more  impenetrable  group  of  people  exist 
than  the  Doukhobdrs .” 

This  is  a  curious  admission  from  the  man  who  had  for 
months  palmed  off  his  semi-religious  rhodomontades  on  the 
Canadian  Government  and  on  the  general  public  as 
genuine  expressions  of  Doukhobdr  “principles/’  Dropping 
the  mask,  he  here  practically  admits  how  little  unanimity 
there  was  between  him  and  the  sect  for  whom  he  spoke, 
and  how  different  his  outlook  was  to  theirs. 

But  why  did  the  Doukhobdrs,  for  a  while,  allow 
Bodyansky  to  play  spokesman  for  them  P 

I  adopt  Olhovsky’s  explanation  already  quoted,  and 
say :  simply  because  they  were  awaiting  instructions  from 
Peter  Verigin,  who  was  in  Siberia  ;  and  until  they  knew 
his  opinion,  they  wished  neither  to  submit  to  the  Canadian 
Government,  nor  to  explain  the  true  reason  for  their  hesi¬ 
tation.  They  therefore  welcomed  the  pronouncements  of 
Bodyansky,  at  whom  they  themselves  laughed,  but  who 
wrote  plausibly,  puzzled  the  Immigration  Department, 
and  kept  matters  in  the  suspense,  which  pending  Verigin’s 
release  was  what  they  chiefly  desired. 

In  a  letter  to  Birukoff,*  one  of  the  Doukhobdrs 
who  signed  the  “  Address  ”  wrote  with  characteristic 
slyness : — 

“  As  to  what  Bodyansky  wrote,  you  know  that  we  are 
not  wise  enough  to  understand  each  word.  And  as  to 
expressions  which  did  not  suit  us  in  it — well,  Bodyansky 

*  Obrashenie  Kanadshili  Douhoborof.  Geneve,  1901. 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE  215 

is  an  obstinate  old  man,  and  always  twists  things  his  own 
way.” 

Bodyansky,  however,  soon  left  Canada,  and  the  Dou- 
khobors  proved  that  they  could  be  quite  as  troublesome 
without  his  help  as  with  it. 

An  apparent  resemblance  between  some  statements  in 
the  Doukhobor  appeals  and  some  of  Henry  George's 
views,  attracted  the  sympathetic  attention  of  Single-Taxers. 
But  looked  at  more  closely,  except  that  both  the  Dou- 
khobors  and  Henry  George  protested  against  the  laws 
and  customs  that  now  prevail,  there  was  no  similarity. 
Henry  George  had  thought  out  a  definite  system  ;  he 
stated  his  opinion  frankly  and  clearly  ;  and  he  was  aiming 
at  a  workable  arrangement  recognizing  the  usefulness  of  a 
Government.  The  Doukhobdrs  had  thought  out  no  system, 
were  carefully  concealing  their  real  opinions,  and  wished 
every  Government  system  (outside  their  own  Theocracy)  to 
prove  unworkable. 

One  phase  of  fanaticism  succeeding  another,  a  con-  l" 
siderable  section  of  Doukhobdrs  (numbering  about  1,600) 
followed  a  zealot,  who  preached  that  it  was  wrong  to 
make  use  of  metals  obtained  from  the  earth  and  smelted 
by  the  labour  of  our  enslaved  brethren ;  that  it  is  wrong 
to  train  horses  or  cattle  to  do  our  work ;  and  that  it 
is  also  wrong  to  use  money  which  bearing  the  image  and 
superscription  of  Caesar,  should  be  rendered  back  to  Caesar. 

It  is  also  wrong  to  till  the  ground :  for  why  should  we 
“  spoil  the  earth  ”  when  there  are  warm  countries  in 
which  men  live  by  eating  fruits  ?  Furthermore,  have  we 
not  the  example  of  Jesus,  who  abandoned  manual  labour 
and  went  about  the  world  preaching  and  teaching  the  law 
of  God  ? 

These  doctrines  rent  the  sect  once  more  in  twain.  A 


216 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


majority,  however  (fully  three-fourths),  refused  to  abandon 
their  settled  way  of  life,  and  some  of  them  roundly  declared 
that  the  preacher  and  his  followers  were  mad.  The  latter 
(among  whom,  strange  to  say,  were  some  of  the  ablest  and 
sincerest  of  the  sect)  threatened  the  stay-at-homes  with 
hell-fire,  and  sneered  at  them  for  being  “  no  Doukhobors.” 
Much  bitterness  of  feeling  resulted.  Families  were  divided  : 
son  against  father,  and  brother  against  brother.  In  a 
few  villages  almost  every  one  joined  the  Pilgrimage  ;  in 
other  cases  only  half  the  people,  a  mere  handful,  or  even 
none  at  all.  The  Pilgrims  were,  most  of  them,  sincere ; 
but  neither  then  nor  since,  have  they  been  able  to  give 
any  satisfactory  explanation  of  their  conduct.  Just  as  Mr. 
Chamberlain  supposes  that  if  anything  is  unsatisfactory 
in  the  economic  conditions  of  England,  protection  must 
be  the  remedy,  so  the  Pilgrims  concluded  that  if  existing 
conditions  in  Canada  do  not  secure  liberty,  equality,  and 
brotherhood  for  all  men,  the  cure  must  be  to  cease  work, 
free  the  animals,  and  go  on  pilgrimage. 

Their  alleged  intentions  were  to  meet  Christ,  to  preach 
the  Gospel  (some  of  them  already  spoke  a  little  broken 
English),  and  to  reach  a  warm  country  where  there  would 
be  no  Government,  and  where  they  wrould  eat  fruit  from 
the  trees.  Accustomed  to  a  life  of  industry,  some  of 
them  had  to  pray  hard  to  be  saved  from  the  temptation 
which  assailed  them,  to  work. 

They  handed  over  their  money  to  the  nearest  agent  of 
the  Immigration  Department  (he  representing  Caesar). 
They  let  their  horses  and  cattle  go  free.  (These  were 
promptly  rounded  up  and  taken  in  charge  by  the  mounted 
police.)  Their  sheep  they  drove  to  a  distance  and  handed 
over  to  the  care  of  God — but  wolves  came  and  devoured 
them.  They  cut  the  metal  hooks  and  eyes  from  their 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


217 


clothes,  set  everything  in  order  in  their  houses,  and  started 
on  a  Pilgrimage  which,  gathering  volume  like  a  snow-ball 
as  they  passed  from  village  to  village,  soon  reached  pro¬ 
portions  that  alarmed  the  authorities. 

They  took  hardly  anything  with  them  but  their  clothes 
and  some  bread  and  apples.  Some  went  bareheaded  and 
barefooted,  and  all  rejected  leather  foot-gear.  As  long 
as  they  travelled  through  Doukhobdr  villages  they  were 
everywhere  hospitably  received,  and  their  needs  provided 
for.  The  real  hardships  commenced  when,  on  October  25 
1902,  they  left  the  last  of  their  villages  and  started  towards 
Winnipeg.  Some  among  them  were  convinced  that  as  they 
were  obeying  God's  will,  he  would  send  a  second  summer 
instead  of  a  winter,  and  for  a  while  they  really  enjoyed 
singularly  fine  weather.  The  sick  folk  and  cripples  were 
carried  on  stretchers.  One  child  died  on  the  way.  Babies 
were  born.  At  last,  at  Yorkton,  on  October  28,  before 
things  became  very  bad,  the  police  interfered  and  would 
not  allow  the  1,060  women  and  children  to  go  any  further. 
The  men  also  were  to  have  been  stopped,  but  they  eluded 
the  police  and  pressed  onwards  with  a  dogged,  long-suffer¬ 
ing  obstinacy,  characteristic  both  of  what  is  good  and 
bad  in  the  Russian  peasant. 

On  November  3,  when  the  pilgrims  had  reached 
Fox  warren,  the  weather  changed ;  a  sharp  north-east 
wind  arose,  and  snow  soon  began  to  fall.  Sleeping  in  the 
open,  as  they  had  to  do,  was  a  severe  penance.  Even 
before  this  their  condition  had  become  serious.  They 
were  living  chiefly  on  what  was  given  them  in  villages 
through  which  they  went,  or  on  grain  gleaned  in  the  fields 
by  picking  among  the  stubble  for  stray  ears  of  corn,  or 
found  among  the  chaff  around  the  elevators  that  they 
passed.  Some  pilgrims  became  quite  crazy.  One  was  so 


218 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


violent  that  his  arms  had  to  be  tied  with  a  sash,  and  two 
of  his  comrades  had  to  abandon  the  march  and  turn  back 
with  him. 

At  last,  after  various  signs  of  disintegration  had  already 
become  apparent  among  the  pilgrims,  the  cold  increasing, 
the  authorities  took  decisive  action.  On  Saturday 
November  8,  at  Minnedosa  in  Manitoba,  where  the 
road  towards  Winnipeg  touches  the  Manitoba  and  North 
Western  Railway,  a  special  train  pulled  up,  and  after 
a  stubborn  struggle — in  which  many  Doukhobdrs  locked 
themselves  arm-in-arm  and  showed  all  the  passive  resist¬ 
ance  a  sturdy  body  of  men,  resolved  not  to  use  aggressive 
violence,  could  offer — they  were  bundled  into  the  cars  by 
the  police,  or  induced  by  less  violent  means  to  enter,  and 
were  sent  back  to  Yorkton,  from  whence  thev  were  eventu- 
ally  despatched  to  their  villages.  At  the  end  of  the 
Pilgrimage  they  still  numbered  about  450  men. 

For  some  weeks  after  this,  uncertainty  and  dissension 
between  the  44  mad  ”  and  the  44  bad  r>  Doukhobdrs  remained 
acute.  No  progress  towards  a  settlement  of  their  dis¬ 
putes  with  the  Government  was  made,  till,  in  December 
1902,  Peter  Verigin,  their  banished  Leader,  having  been 
released  from  Siberia  arrived  in  Canada — and  everything 
at  once  assumed  a  fresh  aspect. 

The  Doukhobdrs  began  to  make  entry  for  their  land ; 
they  gave  the  vital  statistics  required  by  Government  ; 
they  paid  the  road  tax  for  the  past  year,  and  arranged 
for  the  future  to  make  the  roads  themselves  in  accord 
with  the  Government  requirements;  they  asked  to  have  the 
money  they  had  rendered  unto  Caesar  returned  to  them 
(but  the  Immigration  Department  preferred  to  use  it  in 
paying  up  the  registration  fees  for  their  land),  and  Peter 
Verigin  began  to  organize  material  prosperity  for  his 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


219 


people  by  purchasing,  from  the  Communal  funds,  excellent 
horses  and  cattle  for  breeding  purposes,  as  well  as  the 
latest  and  best  kinds  of  agricultural  machinery. 

One  more  attempt  at  a  Pilgrimage  was  made  in  May 
1903,  with  this  additional  feature,  that  every  now  and 
then — especially  when  entering  any  town  or  settlement — 
the  Pilgrims  divested  themselves  of  all  garments,  and — 
men  and  women — following  the  example  of  Adam  and 
Eve  in  Paradise,  presented  themselves  in  a  state  of  nudity. 

This  second  Pilgrimage  was,  however,  a  small  affair, 
discountenanced  by  Verigin  and  promptly  stopped  by  the 
police. 

Needless  to  say,  such  conduct  placed  those  who  had 
pleaded  the  cause  of  the  Doukhobors,  assured  people  of 
their  good  behaviour,  collected  money  for  them,  and 
arranged  for  their  migration,  in  an  awkward  position. 
Nor  was  it  only  on  personal  grounds  that  a  temptation 
arose  to  make  excuses,  and  to  explain  away  or  conceal 
the  facts.  For  the  Doukhobors  were  prominently  identi¬ 
fied  with  peace  principles ;  they  had  won  a  conspicuous 
victory  for  those  principles,  and  to  admit  aberrations 
or  misconduct  on  their  part  seemed,  to  some,  like  abjur¬ 
ing  a  cause  for  which  they  had  striven  through  good 
report  and  ill.  “Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in 
the  streets  of  Ashkelon,  lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philis¬ 
tines  rejoice,  lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcized 
triumph,’1  was  the  sentiment  in  many  minds.  But  no 
good  cause  can  ultimately  be  helped  by  concealment,  and 
a  desire  to  suppress  the  truth  leads  only  to  confusion  and 
perplexity. 

In  the  conduct  of  prominent  Tolstoyans  *  there  was 

*  By  “  Tolstoyans  ”  I  mean  those  who  not  only  regard  Tolstoy  as  the 
greatest  of  modern  teachers,  but  agree  with  him  on  all-important  points, 


220 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


much  that  was  regrettable.  Some  books  published  by  the 
“Free  Age  Press, ”  Christchurch,  did  real  harm.  Vladimir 
Tchertkoff  had  assured  the  Canadian  authorities  that 
the  Doukhobdrs  would  prove  excellent  settlers  ;  he  had 
also  collected  money  in  England  to  aid  them,  and  was 
under  every  obligation  to  use  his  influence  to  promote 
concord  between  the  Doukhobdrs  and  the  Canadian 
Government,  which  truly  represented  the  wishes  of  the 
Canadian  people  in  this  matter.  Yet  the  following  curious 
extracts  are  from  a  Handbook  this  gentleman  approved  of, 
published,  and  sent  out  as  an  aid  to  the  Doukhobdrs  in 
learning  the  English  language,  and  to  supply  them  with 
information  and  moral  guidance.  To  draw  attention  to 
certain  passages  I  have  put  them  in  italics. 

Page  42. — {e  All  governments  are  based  on  violence.  They  are 
upheld  by  armies,  law-courts,  prisons,  and  police.” 

Pages  49-52. — “The  population  of  Canada  consists  of  the 
original  inhabitants — the  red  Indians,  and  of  emigrants  from  Europe. 

.  .  .  And  now  7,500  Doukhobdrs  from  the  Caucasus.  There  are 
also  nigroes  (sic).  The  Indians  and  nigroes  are  very  badly  treated 
in  the  lands  which  belong  to  the  Europeans.  The  poor  Indians 
have  been  hunted  towards  the  north  and  deprived  of  all  their  rights. 
They  are  gradually  dying  out.  And  yet  they  are  a  very  noble  race. 
They  are  honest,  truthful,  and  hospitable.  They  are  a  nomadic 
tribe,  and  live  in  tents.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Indians  were  a 
great  and  powerful  people.  They  had  great  intellectual  development. 
And  the  rules  of  their  morality  were  very  elevated.  They  did  no 
harm  to  anybody.  And  in  their  own  way  they  served  God,  whom 
they  called  the  Great  Spirit.  Then  the  greedy  Europeans  came  and 
began  to  destroy  them  and  take  away  their  land.  The  Indians 
were  exasperated  and  revenged  themselves  cruelly  upon  the  f  white 

including  his  view  of  non-resistauce,  with  its  consequent  condemnation  of 
Governments,  laws,  law-courts,  and  private  property. 

Greatly  as  I  admire  Tolstoy,  I  do  not  claim  to  rank  as  a  Tolstoyan, 
but  agree  with  those  who  would  employ  and  improve  existing  institu¬ 
tions,  rather  than  abandon  them  as  incurably  corrupt. 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE  221 

people  ’  as  they  called  the  Europeans.  .  .  .  Civilized  nations  com¬ 
mit  a  great  sin,  for  they  shed  blood  everywhere,  and  they  oppress 
those  that  are  weaker  than  themselves.  Instead  of  bringing  true 
civilization,  love,  and  union,  they  sow  hatred  and  death  wherever 
they  go.  The  Europeans  call  themselves  Christians,  but  they  are 
not  true  to  Christ's  teaching ." 

Page  62. — “  It  concerns  the  registration  of  marriages,  births 
and  deaths.  Do  you  promise  always  to  fulfil  this?  We  are  quite 
willing  to  answer  accurately  when  asked.  But  we  cannot  promise 
anything.  A  promise  is  the  same  as  an  oath.  Our  religion  forbids 
us  to  take  an  oath.  Christ  said,  fDo  not  swear.’  A  man  must  be 
free.  A  promise  ties  the  conscience  and  the  actions  of  a  man.  Even 
in  little  things  we  want  to  be  free.'3 

Page  86. — “Do  not  give  any  promises.  We  cannot  take  any 
oath.  Our  faith  is  just  the  same  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Pages  92,  93. — “  We  think  there  ought  not  to  exist  any  private 
property  of  land.  In  our  opinion,  land ,  like  air  and  water,  should 
be  for  the  use  of  all.  He  owns  the  land,  who,  for  the  time  being, 
is  working  it.  .  .  .  On  the  land  question  many  and  learned  people 
have  written  and  disputed  much.  About  the  land  question  it  is 
useful  to  read  the  writings  of  two  men  :  the  American  Henry 
George,  and  our  Russian  Leo  Tolstoy.” 

Tolstoy  is  more  reasonable  in  practical  affairs  than  the 
Tolstoyans.  I  had  some  talks  with  him  in  August  1902, 
when  the  Doukhobors  were  beginning  to  liberate  their 
cattle.  He  was  far  from  approving  of  their  action,  or  ot 
the  extreme  developments  that  were  then  threatening,  but 
his  lieutenant  in  England,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Essex 
Hall  on  26th  November,  1902,  as  reported  in  the  Daily 
News ,  said — 

“The  Doukhobors  felt  that  the  material  prosperity  that  they 
had  met  with  was  threatening  their  spiritual  development  .  .  .  they 
thought  to  find  a  milder  climate  where  agricultural  operations  more 
suited  to  their  genius  would  be  possible,  especially  where  gardening 
could  be  carried  on  without  the  need  of  employing  animals.  They 
regarded  it  as  wrong  for  men  to  own  land  as  individuals.  The 


c)QO 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Doukhobors,  feeling-  that  they  were  not  wanted  by  the  Govern¬ 
ment  .  .  .  thought  it  more  proper  and  courteous  to  withdraw 
before  the  officials  were  put  to  the  necessity  of  evicting  them.” 
(This  as  an  explanation  and  defence  of  the  Pilgrimage.; 

Further,  in  reply  to  a  question  as  to  the  possibility  of 
living  without  Government,  he  said  that — 

4  f  Under  exceptional  difficulties,  fifteen  thousand  Doukhobors 
had  so  lived  in  Russia  for  fifty  years,  during  which  time  there  had 
not  been  one  single  crime  among  them  !  ” 

There  appears  to  be  no  doubt  that  many  of  the  Dou- 
khobdrs,  at  the  time  of  the  Pilgrimage,  were  seized  by  a 
psychic  religious  mania  similar  to,  though  milder  than, 
that  aroused  in  Brazil  by  Antonio  Maciel,  a  psychopath, 
who  starting  from  the  principle  that  all  luxuries  and  all 
that  is  not  absolutely  necessary  for  an  ascetic  existence 
should  be  destroyed,  aroused  a  movement  which  lasted  for 
years  and  terminated  only  with  his  death.  After  twice 
defeating  the  troops  sent  against  him,  his  stronghold  at 
Canudos  was  at  last  captured,  after  a  three  months'*  siege 
in  1897,  by  the  Brazilian  Commander-in-Chief  with  a  force 
of  nearly  thirteen  thousand  men  accompanied  by  artillery. 
An  epidemic  of  somewhat  the  same  kind  caused  serious 
disturbance  at  Arcidosso,  in  Tuscany,  in  1879 ;  and  Dr.  P. 
Jacoby*  has  shown  that  such  psychic-religious  epidemics 
are  much  more  frequent  in  Russia  than  elsewhere. 

In  the  case  of  the  Doukhobors  many  causes  predis¬ 
posed  them  at  this  time  to  some  mental  disturbance ; 
and  the  facts  that  only  a  minority  were  seriously  affected ; 
that  these  with  few  exceptions  refrained  from  violence, 
and  that  the  excitement  passed  off  in  a  few  months — all 
tend  to  show  that  their  excellent  physique,  healthy  life, 
*  Iu  the  Vtstnili  Evrdpi,  October  and  November  1903. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  LEADER'S  GUARD,  BEFORE  1893,  IN  THEIR 

CIVILIAN  COSTUME.  Pi.ate  VII. 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE  223 

temperate  diet,  and  habits  of  self-control,  enable  them  to 
offer  a  sturdy  resistance  to  hypnotic  and  psycopathic 
influences  which  among  some  other  sects  have  proved 
extremely  dangerous. 

The  Doukhobors,  an  ignorant  folk  accustomed  to  rely 
absolutely  on  a  Leader,  were  deprived  of  Verigin’s 
guidance  by  his  absence  in  Siberia.  Wrought  to  a  high 
pitch  of  excitement  during  their  struggle  against  the 
Russian  Government,  they  had  clung  faithfully  to  what 
they  believed  in,  risking  life  and  property.  Then  help, 
which  seemed  miraculous,  suddenly  came  to  them  from 
people  they  did  not  know  and  from  a  land  of  which  they 
had  not  heard.  In  new  surroundings ;  assured  by  indiscreet 
admirers  that  they  were  the  salt  of  the  earth ;  visited  by 
preachers  of  wild  theories  ;  obliged  to  part  with  many  an 
old  custom  and  to  face  many  new  circumstances — who  can 
wonder  if  they  lost  mental  and  moral  balance  ? 

The  particular  event,  however,  which  gave  the  most 
direct  impulse  to  the  Pilgrimage  movement,  was  one  that 
nobody  would,  at  first  sight,  have  supposed  capable  of 
producing  so  great  a  result. 

Peter  Verigin  while  in  exile  had  written  many  letters. 
To  his  own  people  he  always  wrote  cautiously ;  but  to 
other  acquaintances,  he  wrote  with  less  restraint,  and  at 
times  indited  not  a  little  sheer  nonsense.*  I  must  not 
pause  to  inquire  how  it  was  that  one  who  in  practical  life 
has  shown  himself  a  capable  organizer  and  leader,  should 
have  written  such  rubbish,  nor  how  it  was  that  any  man 
could  read  it  and  not  see  that  it  was  rubbish  ;  the  fact 
remains  that  these  letters  were  collected  and  published  by 
the  Free  Age  Press.  They  were  printed  in  1901,  in  the 

*  For  two  letters  from  Tolstoy  to  Verigin  (interesting  in  this  connec¬ 
tion)  see  Tolstoy’s  Essays  and  Letters. 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


224 

Russian  language,  and  were  circulated  among  the  Doukho- 
bors.  They,  poor  people,  little  accustomed  to  books, 
received  these  epistles  of  their  absent  leader  with  all  the 
reverence  the  most  fervent  Protestant  can  feel  for  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul ;  and  they  at  once  began  to  plan 
methods  for  putting  their  Leader's  new  views  into  practice. 
This  is  the  real  key  to  the  absurdities  of  the  Pilgrimage  of 
1902. 

Verigin's  style  is  verbose,  long-winded,  and  sometimes 
obscure,  so  I  will  quote  but  a  few  passages  in  support  of 
what  I  have  said,  and  even  these  1  must  abridge.  Should 
more  evidence  be  wanted  it  would  be  perfectly  easy  to  give 
many  pages  of  it. 

“  To  agree  to  all  tlie  demands  of  Caisar’s  c  organization,5  means 
to  take  part  in  their  doings  ;  and  their  doings  we  see  are  not  good. 
Money  we  consider  ourselves  bound  to  return  to  them  ...  as  much 
as  they  may  demand  .  .  .  because  these  tokens  are  devised  by 
them.” 

“  I  admit  the  possibility  of  advising  not  to  work  physically,  and 
yet  to  be  sufficiently  fed  (obtain  first  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and 
all  the  rest  will  be  added  unto  you)  .  .  .  People  should  begin  to 
preach  peace  and  goodwill,  which  are  bound  up  with  abstinence. 
Plenty  of  corn  exists,  if  only  avarice  were  diminished.  The  earth 
freed  from  the  violence  of  human  hands,  would  begin  to  abound 
with  all  that  is  ordained  for  it.  I  do  not  even  imagine  that  mankind 
would  suffer  want  were  it  to  submit  to  such  a  theory,  for,  feeding 
moderately,  the  eatables  now  in  existence  would  suffice  mankind  for 
a  hundred  years,  and  within  a  hundred  years  the  earth  would  have 
time  to  clothe  itself  completely  and  return  to  its  primitive  condi¬ 
tion.  And  humanity,  together  with  the  spiritual  stature  lost  by 
Adam  and  Eve,  would  regain  an  earthly  paradise.  ” 

It  is  important  for  me  to  know  :  in  order  to  live  rightly  .  .  . 
should  we  keep  cattle  ?  ...  For  it  is  very  natural  that  if  fruits 
exist,  man  should  feed  on  them  (that  is  my  ultimate  conviction).5’ 

“  If  we  cannot  get  on  .  .  .  without  knives,  then  we  shall  never 
free  ourselves  from  the  power  of  contemporary  civilization.  .  .  . 
If  all  humanity  began  to  live  peaceably  and  quietly  in  huts,  and 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


still  needed  an  axe,  then  they  would  again  return  to  the  above- 
mentioned  :  that  is  to  the  mines.  You  may  say  that  even  in  mines 
one  may  lead  a  peaceful  and  tranquil  life.  I  reply,  ‘  that  man  was 
created  not  for  physical  existence,  but  for  spiritual  ! ’  ’’ 

“  And  therefore,  in  my  opinion,  man  need  not  act,  but  need 
only  observe  and  admire  what  exists.” 

“  ‘Take  up  thy  cross  and  follow  me,’  and  to  follow  Christ — we 
must  live  as  he  lived,  and  we  see  that  Christ  did  no  physical  work, 
nor  did  the  Apostles.  And  if  it  is  supposed  that  such  a  life  is  only 
possible  for  a  limited  number  of  people — that  again  is  incorrect.  Is 
it  conceivable  that  Christ  called  the  Apostles  to  such  a  life  and  then, 
seeing  the  whole  or  the  half  of  humanity  following,  would  have  said 
e  No,  there  are  too  many  of  you  ?  ’  Perfection,  or  holiness,  cannot 
be  regarded  as  only  meant  for  exceptional  people  :  it  is  the  portion 
of  every  man.  That  the  Apostles  and  Christ  wore  clothes  and  ate 
bread  was  natural,  for  there  were  plenty  of  clothes  and  bread,  and 
(one  must  add)  even  Christ  and  the  Apostles  were  not  able,  all  at 
once,  to  go  naked. ” 

“In  order  to  be  true  followers  of  Christ,  it  is  chiefly  necessary 
to  go  and  preach  the  Gospel  of  truth,  and  one  may  beg  bread  for  the 
body.  Remember  that  the  Apostles,  passing  through  the  field, 
6  plucked  the  ears  of  corn  and  ate/  If  any  wish  to  labour,  let  them 
do  so  ;  but  our  duty  is  to  labour  only  in  Christ’s  service.” 

(e  From  the  fact  that  our  earth  borrows  life  from  the  sun,  I 
think  that  the  nearer  we  individually  may  be  to  the  sun,  the  better 
it  will  be  in  all  respects.  ...  I  consider,  the  proper  place  of 
residence  to  be  .  .  .  where  the  sun,  sending  its  beneficent  beams 
on  all  that  lives,  at  the  same  time  will  influence  the  brain  of  man 
with  its  vital  energy.  .  .  .  Man  employing  food  raised  by  an 
abundance  of  solar  heat,  as  for  instance,  raspberries,  strawberries, 
and  in  general,  so  to  say,  tender  fruits — his  organism  will  be  formed, 
as  it  were,  of  energy  itself,  because  tender  fruits,  I  suppose,  contain 
in  themselves  very  much,  as  it  were,  of  compressed  solar  ether,  that 
is  to  say,  warmth-energy.  .  .  .  Feeding  on  food  that  grows,  and,  as 
far  as  possible,  on  fruits,  I  see  to  be  advantageous  already  in  this 
respect,  that  I  shall  consume  into  myself  more  solar  heat,  which 
is  energy.  And  in  consequence  of  that  I  hope  even  to  be 
wiser.” 

“  True  Christianity  from  time  immemorial  has  been  persecuted 
because  it  is  harmful  to  any  and  every  governmental  structure.  Let 
the  people  carry  out  the  saying,  ‘  if  any  one  smites  thee  on  the  one 

Q 


226 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other/  and  what  will  follow?  The  com- 
pletest  ruin.  Ultimately,  of  course,  the  complete  unification  of  the 
nations  would  result,  but  people  fear  to  trust  one  another.” 

The  last  quotation  I  have  room  for,  relates  to  Tolstoy. 
It  occurs  in  the  letter  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter, 
and  written  by  Verigin  from  Obdorsk,  and  dated  4th 
January  1896. 

“  Completing  my  first  term  of  exile  in  the  Government  of  Arch¬ 
angel,  I  specially  wished  on  my  return  journey  to  visit  L.  Tolstoy. 
What  does  his  philosophy  consist  of?  I  have  not  read  his  wrorks.  I 
only  know  by  report  that  he  denies  the  morality  of  contemporary 
f  civilization,’  and  its  progress.  If  his  ideal  has  stopped  short  at 
making  boots,  and  such  arrangements  of  human  life  (and  I  say  this 
seriously),  then,  of  course,  it  is  very,  very  inconsequent ;  for  to 
make  boots  one  requires  needles,  and  needles,  as  is  well  known,  are 
made  in  factories,  and  consequently  it  will  not  be  possible  to  close 
the  mines,  where  people  are  tortured  to  obtain  ore.” 

The  harmful  influence  of  the  circulation  of  such  letters 
can  only  be  understood  when  one  has  realized  what  the 
Doukhobors  are  so  cautious  of  disclosing — the  absolute 
authority  Verigin,  like  his  predecessors  in  Doukhobdr 
Leadership,  wields  among  them.  It  is  literally  true,  that 
by  many  he  is  deified  !  Take,  for  instance,  the  following 
document,  signed  by  Matryona  Krasnikova  of  the  village 
of  Efremovka,  and  by  thirteen  other  Doukhobdr  women 
of  various  villages.  It  is  dated  28th  July  1901. 

<e Cease  to  pride  yourselves  on  your  rights  and  authorities  and 
to  exalt  yourselves  !  Who  is  higher  than  the  King  of  Heaven  and 
than  God  ?  God  created  the  Heaven  and  adorned  it  with  all  the 
heavenly  splendours  :  the  sun  and  its  rays,  and  the  moon  and  stars 
to  praise  Him,  and  He  made  the  earth  firm  above  the  waters,  and 
adorned  it  with  various  flowers,  and  created  all  that  livetli  on  the 
earth,  that  they  should  praise  Him.  And  He  gave  freedom  to  all 
that  live  and  to  the  animals. 

<e  ( Great  is  the  Lord  above  all  the  nations,  for  his  goodness  and 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


227 


mercy  enduretlffor  ever.’  And  His  goodness  is  that  lie  has  been  born 
by  the  Spirit  of  the  Most-Holy  Virgin  Mother  of  Hod  the  Queen  of 
Heaven,  of  the  blessed  race  of  Loukeriya  Kalmikova 

“This  Lord  is  our  Leader,  Peter  Vasilyevitch  Verigin.  His 
beauty  is  in  his  Wisdom  ;  in  flesh  he  is  pure. 

“We  strive  towards  him,  esteem  him  God  and  Tsar,  and  with 
full  desire  yield  ourselves  to  his  power. v 


The  deification  of  a  Leader  has  been  by  no  means 
uncommon  in  various  religions  and  nations,  and  we  need 
not  be  surprised  at  meeting  with  it  among  the  Doukhobors, 
many  of  whom,  be  it  remembered,  are  free  from  any  such 
superstition  as  the  one  we  are  referring  to,  or  are 
at  any  rate  able  to  give  a  very  ingenious  explanation  of 
the  faith  that  is  in  them.  They  say  something  of  this 
kind :  We  believe  that  the  spirit  of  God  dwells  in  man, 
and  that  we  are  all  sons  of  one  Father  in  heaven.  But 


we  see  that  the  spirit  is  granted  in  different  measure  to 
different  men.  The  words  of  our  Leader  fill  our  hearts 
with  ioy  ;  his  advice  is  ever  wise  and  good,  and  we  recog¬ 
nize  him  to  be  God's  brother.  But  we  know  it  is  wiser 


not  to  speak  of  these  things  to  strangers. 

Two  of  the  most  prominent  leaders  in  preparing  the 
Pilgrimage  were  Ivan  Ponamarof  and  Vasily  Abeydkof  (the 
latter,  however,  withdrew  from  the  movement  at  an  early 
stage  of  the  proceedings).  These  two  men  were  the 
messengers  who  originally  brought  from  Kola  Verigin’s 
recommendation  to  abandon  meat,  tobacco,  and  strong 
drink ;  and  they  exerted  great  influence  among  the  sect. 
A  political  motive  blent  strangely  with  the  sectarian 
fanaticism  of  the  movement,  for,  as  we  afterwards  learnt, 
Ponamarof  went  from  village  to  village  declaring  that  if 
the  Doukhobdrs  would  only  make  a  grand  demonstration 
of  a  united  Pilgrimage,  the  Government  would  certainly 
consent  to  transport  them  to  a  warmer  land.  This  idea 


228 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


of  influencing  the  Canadian  Government  blent  strangely 
with  the  pseudo-religious  motives  professed  and  with  the 
genuine  devotion  to  their  Leader,  which  all  combined  to 
cause  a  strange  confusion.  But  it  was,  at  the  time,  kept 
a  profound  secret. 

Verigin  philosophizing  with  various  correspondents, 
and  Verigin  ruling  his  own  people,  are  two  very  different 
beings.  On  reaching  Canada  he  set  himself  with  prompti¬ 
tude,  firmness  and  tact,  to  restore  harmony,  and  to 
organize  material  prosperity  on  a  communistic  basis.  The 
Doukhobdrs,  having  learnt  caution  by  long  experience  in 
Russia,  never  tell  strangers  how  they  are  governed.  They 
obey  Verigin's  directions  without  implicating  him  by  any 
admission  that  their  decisions  depend  on  him  ;  but  they 
obey  no  other  authority  unless  he  tells  them  to. 

It  has  been  very  plausibly  suggested  that  he  was  the 
Messiah  the  Pilgrims  expected  to  meet  in  Winnipeg.  He 
left  Russia  a  few  weeks  later  than  was  anticipated,  and 
this,  apparently,  upset  their  calculations. 

Verigin,  for  his  part,  arrogates  no  authority  to  himself. 
His  language  is  usually  that  of  humility  and  equality  ;  he 
gives  advice  and  makes  suggestions — but  it  somehow 
happens  that  a  Doukhobdr  who  does  not  agree  with  the 
Leader's  suggestions,  generally  has  a  bad  time  of  it 
afterwards. 

Verigin's  task  in  Canada  was  difficult,  and  the  line  he 
took  was  a  diplomatic  one.  The  Pilgrims,  he  said,  de¬ 
served  admiration  and  approval ;  but  they  had  now  done 
enough  to  show  their  zeal  and  to  demonstrate  the  spiritual 
strength  of  the  Doukhobdrs.  It  was  time  for  them  to 
settle  down.  A  practical  victory  was  thus  given  to  the 
“  bad  ”  Doukhobdrs,  while,  to  keep  things  balanced, 
flattery  was  given  to  the  44  mad  "  ones. 


NON-USERS  OF  HORSES  FETCHING  FLOUR  FROM  YORKTON. 


LIBRARY 
Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


229 


Having  been  absent  in  exile  for  fifteen  years,  Verigin 
needed  advice  as  to  the  circumstances  and  present  temper 
of  his  people  ;  and  here  again  he  showed  tact,  by  placing 
the  conununal  arrangements  in  the  hands  of  a  Council  of 
Three,  which  consists  of  himself,  of  Zibarof  a  chief  of  the 
Pilgrims,  and  of  Planidin  chief  of  the  anti-Pilgrims. 
These  two  latter  balance  each  other  nicely  and  furnish 
Verigin  with  an  excellent  means  of  influencing  both  sec¬ 


tions  of  his  people.  After  one  month,  Zibarof  (ex-chief 
of  the  Pilgrims)  might  be  seen  buying  horses  and  selling 
the  surplus  cattle  of  the  Colony  (young  bulls,  etc.)  to 
Messrs.  Gordon,  Ironsides  and  Fares,  the  biggest  butchers 
and  cattle  exporters  in  Canada. 

That  the  earnings  of  the  Doukhobdrs  go  to  the  com¬ 
munal  exchequer,  and  that  the  Committee  of  Three  have 
considerable  scope  in  dealing  with  these  funds,  is  an  incident 
of  the  situation  which  some  people  might  object  to.  The 
Doukhobdrs  however,  for  the  most  part,  do  not  grumble ; 
and  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  few  rulers  come  nearer  to 
the  lives  of  their  people,  or  earn  their  keep  better,  than 
Verigin.  The  accounts  rendered  to  the  Community  at 
the  end  of  his  first  year’s  rule  in  Canada  were  remarkably 
clear,  concise,  and  businesslike. 

But  it  will  be  asked  :  Does  not  the  outbreak  of  the 
second  Pilgrimage  with  its  “  nudity  parades  ”  in  May  1903, 
after  Verigin  reached  Canada,  show  that  the  ideas  under¬ 
lying  the  first  Pilgrimage  were  rooted  deeper  than  in  his 
authority  ? 

Curiously  enough,  it  tends  rather  to  prove  the  con¬ 
trary.  Verigin,  in  visiting  the  different  villages,  suited  his 
remarks  to  the  psychic  complexion  of  the  place  visited. 
In  certain  villages  predominantly  Pilgrim,  it  seemed  to 
him  expedient  to  emphasize  approval  of  the  Pilgrims’  zeal 


230 


A  rECULIAR  PEOPLE  j| 

for  righteousness,  and  even  to  reproach  the  non-Pilgrims 
for  lack  of  zeal.  Such  reproaches  burnt  deep  in  certain 
minds ;  and  when  Verigin  had  left  their  settlements,  these 
resolved  to  wipe  off*  their  disgrace  by  starting  a  Pilgrimage 
more  thoroughgoing  even  than  the  first. 

This  was  contrary  to  Verigin’s  real  wish.  He  had 
overplayed  his  part ;  and  when  the  psychic  influence  of  the 
revivalist  movement,  with  its  stirring  appeals  and  strong 
emotions,  had  wrought  some  of  these  new  Pilgrims  to  a 
high  pitch  of  fanaticism,  even  Verigin  himself  was  unable 
to  bring  them  to  heel.  But  the  significant  fact  should  be 
noticed  that  the  heads  of  the  second  Pilgrimage  were  men 
who  had  previously  been  anti-Pilgrims. 

While  insisting  on  the  strength  of  Verigin’s  influence 
as  the  key  to  what  has  been  most  perplexing  in  the  conduct 
of  the  Doukhobdrs,  I  do  not  pretend  that  the  problem 
is  a  simple  one,  or  that  there  is  no  reaction  against  his 
authority.  A  few  cases  of  Doukhobdrs  who  resist  Verigin’s 
authority  can  be  instanced.  Some  eleven  men  among 
them  even  set  fire  to  one  of  his  new  reaping  machines. 
They  were  arrested  by  the  Canadian  police  at  Verigin's 
instigation,  and  condemned  to  prison  on  evidence  supplied 
by  his  adherents.  When,  after  a  time,  it  was  intimated 
to  Verigin  that  the  prisoners  might  be  released  if  a  petition 
were  sent  in  by  the  Doukhobdrs  to  that  effect,  he  remained 
deaf  to  the  suggestion. 

A  few  other  men  have  shown  signs  of  insubordination  ; 
but  these  seem,  at  present,  hardly  to  amount  to  much  more 
than  exceptions  proving  the  rule  of  general  submission. 

A  One  needs  no  clearer  instance  of  Verigin’s  power  than 
this  :  in  October  1900,  Doukhobdr  delegates,  claiming  a 
grant  of  Communal  land  free  from  all  legal  formalities, 
wrote  to  the  Immigration  Agent  at  York  ton — 


THE  DOUKHOBOR  PILGRIMAGE 


231 


ffWe  recognize  the  Creator  as  owner  of  land.  He  gave  it  for 
the  use  of  all  living  things  ;  for  man  especially,  on  account  of  his 
superiority  and  because  he  is  adapted  to  put  his  work  on  the  land  and 
thus  make  it  more  productive.  Therefore  we  recognize  that  land 
should  be  in  the  possession  of  those  who  will  work  it.” 

In  1901,  Verigin’s  letters,  saying  that  the  earth  should 
not  be  worked,  were  printed  and  circulated. 

In  1902  the  Pilgrimage  was  undertaken,  by  Dou- 
khobors  who  wished  not  to  “  spoil  the  earth.” 

Finally  in  1903,  Verigin  induced  these  same  Dou- 
khobors  to  enter  for  their  homesteads  in  the  very  form 
they  had,  in  1901,  declared  they  could  not  comply  with, 
because  “  the  law  of  God,  which  we  must  obey  before  any¬ 
thing  else,  cannot  be  changed  at  all.” 

What,  then,  are  we  to  think  of  the  Doukhobdrs  as  a 
people  ? 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  it  would  be  hard 
to  find  a  community  consisting  of  an  equal  number  of 
men  among  whom  there  is  less  crime  and  more  industry, 
honesty  and  hospitality,  or  more  personal  attention  by 
the  hale  adults  to  the  needs  of  the  old  people  and  the 
children.  They  are  sober,  temperate,  healthy,  and  there 
is  no  prostitution  (and  apparently  but  little  looseness  in 
sexual  matters)  among  them.  Compared  with  the  fancy 
pictures  drawn  by  some  enthusiasts  they  are  disappointing, 
but  compared  with  ordinary  human  beings  they  are  a 
worthy  and  estimable  folk,  in  spite  of  their  obstinacy, 
sectarian  exclusiveness,  suspiciousness,  and  their  too  great 
dependence  on  a  very  fallible  authority. 

When  all  their  faults  and  errors  are  summed  up,  this 
remains ;  that  in  the  irrepressible  conflict,  of  which 
thoughtful  men  are  becoming  more  and  more  conscious, 
between  the  imperialistic  and  military  spirit  of  the  age 


232 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


on  the  one  side,  and  the  spirit  of  peace  on  the  other, 
the  Doukhobors  (by  whatever  motives  actuated)  have 
struck  a  conspicuous  blow  against  the  modern  slavery  of 
conscription. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  thing  of  which  one  is  most 
painfully  conscious,  as  one  wades  through  the  perplexities 
of  this  extraordinary  movement — is  the  extreme  rarity  of 
men  who  will  tell  the  plain  truth,  regardless  of  whether  it 
confirms  or  contradicts  the  various  “  principles  ”  they 
have  set  up.  This  disregard  of  the  claims  of  truth  is 
noticeable  alike  in  the  selection  of  facts  published  by  the 
Tolstoyans  and  in  their  rejection  of  all  evidence  that  does 
not  suit  their  views,  in  Bodyansky's  manifestoes,  and  again 
in  the  quibbling  of  the  Doukhobors.  In  all  these  cases 
the  consciousness  of  objective  facts  seems  overpowered  by 
an  excited  subjective  aspiration  after  something  believed 
to  be  more  important.  Some  men  get  drunk  on  alcohol ; 
others,  such  as  the  imperialists  among  ourselves  and  the 
pilgrims  among  the  Doukhobors,  get  drunk  on  theories 
and  on  superstitions. 


CHAPTER  VII 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE 

In  the  last  chapter  I  tried  to  summarize  the  Pilgrimage, 
and  to  explain  its  meaning,  but  I  confined  myself  to 
sketching  it  in  outline,  avoiding  details.  To  adjust  the 
“personal  equation ”  and  to  let  eye-witnesses  speak  for 
themselves,  I  will  now  give  some  quotations  the  graphic 
details  of  which  may  help  to  bring  the  movement  more 
vividly  home  to  the  reader. 

My  first  quotation  is  a  translation  of  part  of  a  letter 
(dated  15th September  1902),  which  I  received  from  Gregory 
Verigin  (a  brother  of  Peter  Verigin's)  ;  it  was  written 
from  the  village  of  Poterpevshy  (the  name  means  “  That 
has  suffered,”  and  was  changed  to  Otradnoe  :  “  The  Joyful," 
when  Peter  Verigin  made  it  his  headquarters).  This  is 
what  Gregory  Verigin  wrote — 

“  Next,  I  will  give  you  some  news  about  certain  of  our 
Brethren.  You  already  know  that  some  of  them  have 
liberated  all  their  cattle.  After  the  liberation  they  took 
it  into  their  heads  to  go  preaching  to  their  friends  that 
they  too  should  liberate,  and  they  started  tramping 
through  the  villages  and  preaching.  They  declared,  more¬ 
over,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  have  clothes,  such  as  fur- 
coats,  boats,  or  horse-collars ;  all  these  things  they  burnt ; 
and  they  also  began  to  say  that  to  work  and  dig  the 


234 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


ground  (whether  with  plough  or  spade)  was  sinful ;  and 
that  we  ought  to  nourish  ourselves  on  fruits  ;  that  to  have 
anything  of  iron  (even  a  needle)  is  sinful, — because  our 
brethren  are  tormented  in  mines.  .  .  .  And,  by  such  pro¬ 
pagandists,  some  seventeen  hundred  people  of  both  sexes 
were  collected,  and  they  came  here  the  other  day.  We 
went  out  to  meet  them.  Greeting  us,  they  wished  us 
peace.  Then  they  invited  any  of  us  who  might  wish  to, 
to  4  come  with  us  to  the  wedding  feast/  Another  said  : 

4  We  are  going  to  meet  the  Bridegroom  1  ;  a  third  said  : 

4  We  go  to  preach  the  Gospel1 ;  and  a  fourth  said  :  4  Let 
us  go  to  the  Promised  Land.1 

44 1  asked  them  to  be  silent,  and  to  let  some  one  man 
explain  where  all  these  people  were  going.  The  replies 
were  the  same  as  before,  and  one  could  make  nothing  of 
them  ;  and  if  I  am  to  write  you  truly  whither  these  folk 
are  going — iPs  more  than  I  know  myself ! 

44  Again  I  asked  them  to  be  silent,  and  I  began  to 
express  my  own  opinion.  4  First,1  said  1, 4  if  you  are  going 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  that  is  a  thing  requiring  some 
capacity,  but  I  know  personally  that  many  of  you  cannot 
yet  manage  to  live  in  a  Christian  way  yourselves ;  what, 
then,  are  you  going  to  tell  to  others  ?  And  besides,  where 
are  all  these  women  and  children,  and  old  men  and  old 
women  going  to,  and  these  cripples,  and  the  sick  people 
that  you  are  carrying  on  stretchers  ?  Is  propaganda  of 
this  kind  reasonable  ?  Secondly,  if  one  is  to  look  on  such 
a  movement  as  a  migration  to  a  Promised  Land  where  you 
will  feed  on  fruits,  such  a  land,  even  supposing  it  to  exist, 
must  be  far  away,  and  in  such  guise  you  will  never  get 
there.  If  this  country  does  not  please  you,  or  if  it  is  con¬ 
trary  to  your  convictions,  then  look  for  a  country  more  to 
your  minds,  and  migrate  thither  as  you  migrated  from 


NICHOLAS  ZIBAROF,  A  LEADING  PILGRIM 


Plate  IX 


1 


LIBRARY 
Of  THE 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE  235 

Russia  to  Canada.  I  argued  that  to  work  is  not  sinful, 
but  that  men  must  work.  God  says,  ‘  In  the  sweat  of  thy 
brow  shalt  thou  obtain  bread,’  and  Jesus  Christ  gives  us 
full  liberty  to  say,  ‘  he  who  will  not  work — let  him  also 
not  eat’;  but  you  say  it  is  sinful  to  work,  while  you  your¬ 
selves  have  not  at  all  stopped  eating.  Is  that  right  ?  Or 
you  say  that  every  one  should  free  their  cattle, — but  you 
yourselves  have  not  yet  tried  whether  you  can  live  without 
cattle.  You  should  at  least  try  it  for  a  year  or  two,  and 
if  you  have  lived  and  found  it  answer,  then  others  will  see 
it  and  will  themselves  begin  liberating.  But  now,  you 
have  hardly  had  time  to  drive  the  cattle  out  of  your  yards, 
and  have  not  tried  your  strength,  and  yet  you  want  to 
teach  other  people  !  That  is  not  good,  it  is  even  sinful  !  ’ 

“  I  talked  for  more  than  two  hours,  and  there  was 
hardly  any  contradiction.  Then  we  offered  them  a  meal 
and  quarters  for  the  night,  but  they  refused  both  the  one 
and  the  other ;  only  they  said  they  wished  to  bid  farewell 
to  the  Grandmother,  that  is  to  my  Mother.* 

“  When  they  said  good-bye  and  moved  on,  many  of 
them  went  barefoot  and  without  hats  on  their  heads,  and 
they  had  with  them  only  the  clothes  they  were  in ;  they 
had  no  supplies,  and  I  asked  why  this  was  so,  and  said, 
‘  Have  you  any  Elder  among  you  who,  perhaps,  tells  you 
to  behave  so  ?  ’  They  replied  that  they  had  no  Elders 
among  them,  but  that  each  one  acted  so  on  the  prompt¬ 
ing  of  his  own  conscience.  ‘  What  do  you  think  of  such 
behaviour  ?  ’  said  I.  ‘  Speaking  for  my  own  part,  I  do  not 
see,  here,  anything  tending  to  salvation,  or  that  is  reason¬ 
able  ;  but  it  is  a  human  invention  which  will  cause  great 
suffering.’  ” 

*  Peter  Verigin’s  mother  is  held  in  the  highest  reverence  among  the 
Doukhobdrs. 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


5236 

My  next  quotation  is  from  a  newspaper  account.  Many 
of  the  reports  circulated  in  the  American  and  English  Press 
were  wildly  inaccurate,  and  showed  a  misunderstanding  of 
the  whole  affair ;  but  the  reports  in  the  Manitoba  Free  Press, 
written  by  a  special  correspondent  who  accompanied  the 
Doukhobdrs,  bore  every  sign  of  reliability. 

Writing  from  Yorkton,  North-West  Territories,  this 
correspondent  reported,  on  31st  October  1902,  of  the 
Pilgrims — 

“  To-night  they  are  encamped  near  Churchbridge  .  .  . 
They  are  showing  signs  that  hunger,  fatigue,  and  emacia¬ 
tion  have  weakened  their  stalwart  frames.  Every  man’s 
face  is  an  index,  silent  and  eloquent,  of  what  he  has  been, 
and  is,  enduring.  The  glare  of  sunken  eyes  gives  evidence 
that  minds  are  weakening  under  the  combined  influence  of 
religious  dementia,  starvation,  and  exhaustion.  A  drizzling 
rain  is  falling  to  add  to  the  self-inflicted  miseries  of  these 
martyrs  to  mistaken  ideals  of  right.  Ever  and  anon  will 
arise  their  plaintive  psalm,  its  weird  minor  cadences  rising 
and  falling  with  varying  strength,  now  swelling  higher  on 
the  breeze  like  martial  music,  and  again  sinking  into  a 
mournful  dirge  of  sorrow.  Nearly  all  are  barefooted  and 
hatless.  All  their  outer  clothing,  their  heavy  felted  cloaks 
and  overcoats,  have  been  thrown  away.  Two  months  ago 
the  Lord  revealed  to  them  the  iniquity  of  wearing  leather 
boots ;  they  were  the  product  of  animal  life,  which  it  was 
wrong  to  utilize  for  any  purpose.  So  rubbers  were  bought 
in  their  place.  These  have  hurt  their  feet,  and  now  they 
have  been  thrown  away.  They  lie  piled  in  little  heaps 
from  Rokeby  to  Churchbridge,  and  scattered  along  their 
line  of  march  are  stockings,  gray  blankets,  cloaks,  coats, 
caps,  hats,  and  all  the  impediments  of  a  long  pilgrimage. 

“  The  trail  over  which  those  thousand  feet  have  travelled 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE 


237 


is  worn  as  level  as  the  floor  of  a  dancing  pavilion.  Their 
tired  feet  are  cut  and  bruised,  some  of  them  bleeding. 
Whenever  the  way  lies  near  a  ploughed  field  the  weary 
concourse  walk  across  it  to  ease  their  tired  feet,  and  the 
path  they  have  travelled  looks  as  if  it  had  been  pressed  by 
a  gigantic  roller.  A  razor  has  not  touched  the  beard  of 
one  of  the  pilgrims  since  they  adopted  their  new  belief. 
All  are  unkempt,  unshaven,  hollow-cheeked  and  wild-eyed. 
In  front  stalks  the  new  ‘John  the  Baptist,’  his  jet-black 
beard  and  long  hair  floating  in  the  autumn  wind.  Suddenly 
he  will  stop,  with  eyes  glaring  before  him,  then  leap  for¬ 
ward,  clutching  at  the  air  with  extended,  groping  hands, 
crying,  ‘  I  see  Him  ;  I  see  Jesus.  He  is  coming,  He  is 
here.1  The  dementia  can  be  seen  to  run  through  the  pro¬ 
cession  like  a  wave  at  these  words.  The  chant  rises  higher, 
stronger  and  militant,  and  many  of  the  Spirit-Wrestlers 
show  similar  symptoms  of  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible. 
All  who  have  seen  it  say  it  is  like  a  dreadful  dream,  that 
it  is  incredible,  unrealizable — hundreds  of  men,  with  the 
light  of  insanity  in  their  eyes,  roaming  whither  and  for 
what  they  know  not,  and  animated  by  a  belief  that  brings 
the  dark  ages  into  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century. 

“They  are  eating  to  supplement  the  gifts  of  bread 
made  by  the  villages  en  route ,  dried  rosebuds,  herbs,  leaves, 
grasses,  in  fact,  almost  anything  vegetable  in  its  origin. 
They  believe  there  will  be  no  winter  and  no  cold  weather, 
that  there  will  be  two  summers  this  year.  Mr.  Speers 
asked  ‘  John  the  Baptist,1  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  to 
discard  his  rubbers  :  ‘Where  are  your  boots?1 

“  ‘Jesus  had  no  boots,1  was  the  answer. 

“‘But  your  feet  will  get  cold  ? 1  protested  the  kindly 
agent. 

O 

“  ‘  Jesus  keeps  my  feet  warm,1  replied  the  forerunner. 


238 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


“Many  of  them  walk  the  entire  night,  their  bodies 
seeming  insensible  to  fatigue  that  would  kill  many  men. 
When  they  marched  into  York  ton  they  bore  from  a  dozen 
to  twenty  stretchers,  improvised  of  poplar  poles  and  gray 
blankets,  on  which  they  bore  their  sick  and  feeble  folk. 
By  the  hand  they  led  a  man  past  fifty  years  of  age,  born 
blind.  He  is  now  in  the  Immigration  Hall.  I  saw  him 
an  hour  ago,  his  sightless  eyes  uplifted  in  an  ecstasy  of 
beatific  vision.  Little  tots  of  three  and  four  toddled  along 
clinging  to  their  mothers’  skirts,  some  gazing  in  childish 
wonder  at  the  trains,  and  the  streets,  and  the  elevators ; 
others  prattling  with  laughter,  and  many  crying  quietly 
for  the  food  their  misguided  mothers  refused  to  let  them 
eat.” 

The  same  correspondent  reported  that  there  were  1,060 
women  and  children  then  housed  in  the  Immigration  Hall 
and  in  the  other  shelters  provided  by  Government. 

44  In  addition  to  this,  there  are  between  fifty  and 
seventy-five  unaffected  Doukhobors  in  town.  These  have 
followed  relations  hoping  to  induce  them  to  return  to 
their  farms. 

44  A  walk  through  these  buildings  at  about  nine  o’clock, 
when  the  occupants  are  preparing  to  retire  for  the  night, 
is  a  sight  to  be  remembered.  Some  are  already  asleep, 
coiled  up  on  sacks  stuffed  with  hay,  or  gray  blankets. 
Others  are  sitting  on  the  floor,  watching  the  coming  and 
going  of  women  and  visitors,  with  the  stolid,  vacuous  in¬ 
difference  of  the  Slav.  In  one  corner  twenty  or  thirty 
women  squat  on  the  floor  in  rows  facing  each  other  and 
sing  psalms.  Dotted  like  sentinels  among  the  recum¬ 
bent  figures  are  thick-set  and  sturdy  women  with  lowered 
heads,  and  arms  crossed  meekly  over  their  bosoms,  engaged 
in  their  evening  devotions.  At  the  door  can  be  seen  the 


HALT  BY  THE  WAY. 


tiBshiy 

OF  THE  "•* 

UNIVERSITV  Of  ILLINOIS 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE  239 


special  constable,  carrying  a  lantern  and  seeing  that  all 
are  comfortably  disposed  for  the  night.  A  big  Rochester 
lamp,  suspended  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  throws  strong 
and  grotesque  shadows  among  the  occupants  below.  The 
room  is  a  very  riot  of  colour,  brilliant  in  crimsons,  pinks, 
purples,  greens,  blues,  and  white.  Here  is  a  woman,  sixty 
years  of  age,  with  the  insane  light  of  religious  mania 
gleaming  from  her  eyes,  who  tells  me  that  she  is  to  be  the 
mother  of  Jesus.  Here  a  mother  tries  to  hush  her  sick 
baby.  She  is  fearful  lest  it  be  taken  away  from  her,  and 
its  soul  for  ever  ruined  by  a  doctor  giving  it  medicine. 
Over  yonder  is  a  girl  of  eighteen,  one  of  the  most  comely 
in  the  crowd.  She  came  to  Yorkton  barefooted.  She  had 
no  nourishing  food  for  days,  and  refused  to  eat.  Exposure 
and  weakness  have  given  her  pneumonia.  So  fearful  were 
her  comrades,  and  she  herself,  of  letting  the  officials  know 
that  she  was  ill,  that  the  fact  was  not  discovered  till  this 
morning.  Then  Dr.  Cash  came  to  see  her,  but  she  refused 
to  take  either  food  or  medicine.  At  six  o’clock  she  was 
worse,  but  still  conscious,  and  as  inflexibly  determined  as 
ever  to  neither  eat  nor  drink.  When  I  made  the  rounds  of 
the  buildings  at  nine  she  was  in  a  comatose  state,  and 
heroic  measures  were  necessary.  She  was  lifted^  off  the 
bunk.  Gentle  force  was  exerted  to  compel  her  to  un¬ 
clasp  her  teeth  and  take  the  medicine.  Even  then, 
almost  delirious  as  she  was,  she  refused  for  some  time  to 
swallow  it.” 

My  next  quotation  is  from  a  letter,  written  in  January 
1903  by  Herbert  P.  Archer,  which  serves  to  remind  us 
what  wheels  within  wheels  were  at  work. 

“  Another  motive  of  the  Pilgrimage  has  emerged  from 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


240 

the  secrecy  in  which  the  Doukhobors  try  to  keep  the  real 
springs  of  the  whole  matter.  This  is  the  hope  they  had  that 
the  march  would  so  inconvenience  the  Government  that  it 
would  concede  their  demands  as  to  the  land  question  and 
registration  (enabling  them  to  form  a  solid  community  of 
their  own,  independent  of  any  but  their  own  government), 
or  would  at  once  take  means  to  transport  them  to  a  warm 
climate.  This  motive  has  been  hinted  at  before,  but  we 
got  full  confirmation  of  it  only  when  we  got  to  the  villages 
^  most  affected  by  the  movement.  Thus,  partly,  at  any 
rate,  the  Pilgrimage  was,  like  the  4  Address  to  all  Nations" 
of  a  couple  of  years  ago,  a  piece  of  politics  masked  by 
religious  phraseology  and  Biblical  texts.  One  hears 
A  absolutely  nothing  nowadays  of  the  earth  being  God"s 
and  therefore  not  to  be  taken  as  private  property  (that 
argument  of  the  Address).  Instead  of  which,  when  we  go 
to  Kamenka,  we  find  the  Stundist  Russians  there  in  a  very 
unsettled  state.  They  hoped  to  settle  in  fellowship  with 
the  Doukhobors,  who,  on  their  side,  ignore  them,  and  have 
no  intercourse  with  them,  except  to  tell  them  they  have  no 
right  on  ‘  our  land,"  and  that  they  must  go  away  !  .  .  . 

“  We  have  been  thinking  of  the  Doukhobors  as  a 
religious  people.  Really,  as  always,  there  are  religious 
Doukhobors,  but  not  a  religious  Doukhobdr  sect.  The 
sect,  because  it  is  a  sect,  is  self-centred,  self-righteous,  and 
intolerant. 

“  Individuals  perceive  this,  but  the  mass  are  sub¬ 
merged."" 

Vladimir  Teller tkofTs  paper,  Svobodnoe  SIovo  (The  Free 
Word ),  published  a  letter  from  Alexey  Mahbrtof,  dated 
29th  September  1903,  describing  the  Second  Pilgrimage 
with  its  nudity  parades.  In  it  he  tells  us  how  he  and 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE  241 


other  Doukhobors  with  women  and  children,  to  the 
number  of  more  than  forty-five  in  all,  “  went  and 
preached  how  one  should  live  rightly/1  He  says,  “After 
the  12th  of  May,  we  went  in  the  manner  of  the  first  man 
Adam  and  Eve,  to  show  nature  to  humanity,  how  man 
should  return  into  his  fatherland  and  return  the  ripened 
fruit  and  its  seeds/1 

The  letter  is,  in  some  parts,  almost  unintelligible,  but 
it  is  so  characteristic  of  the  semi-sane  fanaticism  of  this 
small  section  of  Doukhobbr  zealots,  as  to  be  well  worth 
reproducing. 

“  We  began  to  go  naked  from  the  village  of  Efremovka 
and  finished  at  the  village  of  Nadezhda.  We  went  through 
sixteen  villages  in  all.  When  we  were  stopped  naked,* 
we  were  much  beaten  with  twigs,  all  in  blood,  so  that  it 
was  terrible  to  see  us. 

“  Then  we  were  surrounded  by  some  twenty  men,  ' 
and  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  village.  And  night 
came  on  ;  the  weather  was  bad,  rain  and  snow  and  wind. 
Then  we  clustured  into  one  heap,  and  lay  on  the  ground 
one  on  another.  And  those  who  guarded  us  stopped  for 
the  night  near  us  ;  they  put  on  their  sheepskin  coats  and 
cloaks.  We  remained  naked  ;  and  really  it  was  wonderful 
to  us  ourselves  that  in  such  a  wind  we  were  not  frozen. 
Those  who  stood  guard  over  us  publicly  announced  that 
the  cold  that  came  on  was  a  very  great  cold,  but  not  one 
of  the  naked  was  frozen/1 

He  then  tells  how  twenty-eight  of  them  reached 
Yorkton  on  the  21st  of  May,  and  were  met  by  mounted 
police.  “  We  stopped,  undressed  and  advanced/1  The 
next  day  they  were  tried  at  Yorkton,  and  sentenced  to 
three  months1  imprisonment  at  Regina.  Why  these 

*  By  the  other  Doukhobors,  apparently. 

K 


242 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE  i 


semi-sane  religious  enthusiasts  (who  had  done  nothing' worse 
than  walk  about  naked)  should  have  been  sentenced  to 
prison  for  three  months  is  not  at  all  obvious.  They  were  in 
fact  kept  at  the  Immigration  Hall  in  Yorkton  till  the  9th 
of  July,  when  they  were  sent  on  to  the  prison  at  Regina, 
which  they  reached  on  the  10th  of  July.  Here,  from 
Mahdrtof’s  account,  it  seems  that  they  refused  to  submit 
to  prison  discipline,  considering  that  they  had  done  nothing 
to  deserve  it.  They  were  (if  Mahortof  may  be  trusted) 
cruelly  tortured  day  after  day  while  in  prison.  They  were 
beaten  with  ropes  and  reins  till  their  bodies  were  marked 
with  blue  bruises.  They  were  dragged  about  by  their 
hair  and  beards ;  their  arms  were  twisted  —  Vasily 
Ryazanofs  arm  was  so  injured  that  he  was  unable  to  use 
it  for  five  days,  and  the  doctor  had  to  be  called  in. 
Mahortof  himself  was  tossed  and  thrown  heavily  on  the 
ground.  They  were  held  up  by  their  heels  and  their 
heads  dipped  in  buckets  of  water  till  they  were  almost 
suffocated.  Peter  Zirtchoukdf  was  beaten  with  a  chair 
till  he  felt  ill.  The  Governor  of  the  prison  paid  no 
attention  to  their  complaints,  but  two  of  them  (after 
being  treated  in  this  manner)  had  to  be  sent  to  the  Insane 
Asylum  at  Brandon. 

Now,  these  statements  may  be  true,  or  they  may 
be  untrue.  They  certainly  call  for  inquiry !  What 
is  evident  is  that  if  they  are  true,  they  are  disgraceful 
to  the  Canadian  prison  administration ;  while  if  they 
are  untrue,  it  is  disgraceful  that  they  should  be  pub¬ 
lished  without  verification,  and  without  any  word  of 
caution,  in  the  official  Tolstoyan  organ.  Circulating 
among  the  Doukhobdrs,  and  reaching  a  circle  of 
readers  already  strongly  biased  against  laws  and  govern¬ 
ments,  such  reports  are  sure  to  produce  an  impression 


[Front  a  Photograph  by  IP.  Simpson. 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE  243 


of  Canadian  injustice  as  injurious  as  one  hopes  it  is 
inaccurate. 

Mahortof’ s  letter  concludes  by  telling  what  befel  them 
after  they  got  home.  All  but  ten  of  the  twenty-eight  fell 
away  from  the  true  faith,  and  lapsed  into  work.  “  Having 
waited  a  little,  we  ”  (the  ten  righteous  ones)  “  began  again 
to  be  active  in  God’s  service  ;  we  trampled  down  with  a 
roller  the  growing  corn  on  a  space  of  some  fifty  yards  of 
ground.  And  why  ?  That  men  should  not  put  their 
trust  in  human  science,  but  should  trust  in  God.  And  we 
also  burnt  a  binding-machine.  Why  ?  That  our  brethren 
should  not  torment  animals,  but  should  trust  in  God. 
And  we  wanted  to  set  fire  to  a  threshing-machine,  but 
were  prevented.  Six  of  us  were  arrested  and  sent  to 
Yorkton.  But  I  am  still  at  home,  because  I  was  not  on 
the  spot  at  the  time. 

“  But  I  am  kept  as  if  under  arrest,  and  am  prevented 
from  going  from  village  to  village.  It  is  so  sad  that  I 
cannot  think  about  it.  I  sit  without  work  ;  my  work 
humanity  does  not  wish  to  accept,  yet  it  is  not  my  work, 
but  God’s.  I  have  sat  for  a  wreek  in  the  hut,  with  the 
windows  nailed  up,  as  in  a  prison.” 

The  Svobodnoe  Slovo  publishes  this  as  the  first  of  a 
series  of  four  letters  on  the  same  subject.  The  fourth 
(which  is  undated ,  but  which  is  published  as  if  it  were  a 
comment  on  the  foregoing)  is  from  Leo  Tolstoy,  who 
says — 

“  My  view  of  this  movement  among  the  Canadian 
Doukhobors  is  that  materially  they  have  injured  them¬ 
selves.  But  this  movement  has  shown  that  there  lives  in 
them  what  is  most  precious  and  important — a  religious 
feeling,  not  passive  and  contemplative,  but  active,  drawing 
them  to  the  renunciation  of  material  advantages.  .  .  . 


244 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


“One  must  remember  that  the  material  well-being 
they  have  now  attained  thanks  to  communal  life,  rests 
entirely  on  the  religious  feeling  which  showed  itself 
in  their  movement  to  free  the  cattle  ;  and  that  this  feeling 
is  more  precious  than  anything  else,  and  woe  not  to  them 
!n  whom  it  shows  itself  in  a  perverted  form  (I  refer  to 
undressing  when  entering  villages),  but  to  him  in  whom  it 
has  dried  up.” 

The  spiritual  stirrings,  manifested  by  burning  agri¬ 
cultural  machinery,  are  tenderly  dealt  with  by  Tchertkoff; 
at  least,  I  have  found,  in  the  Russian  publications  which 
he  circulated  among  the  Doukhobors,  no  condemnation  of 
that  practice  nearly  as  strenuous  as  the  condemnations  of 
promises,  and  of  anything  tending  towards  definiteness  in 
human  relations.  (“  A  promise  is  the  same  as  an  oath,” 
“  Christ  said,  6  Do  not  swear  ! 1  ”  “A  man  must  be  free.” 
“  A  promise  ties  the  conscience  and  the  actions  of  a  man.” 
“  Even  in  little  things  we  want  to  be  free,”  etc.) 

The  pity  of  it!  The  Greek  Church  strove  to  induce 
these  poor  peasants  to  bow  before  icons,  to  accept  the 
Creeds,  to  be  spiritually  nourished  by  the  eucharist,  and 
to  believe  in  the  right  divine  of  Tsars  to  govern  wrong  ! 
The  Russian  Government  insisted  on  training  them  to 
slay  their  fellow-men  in  wars  they  disapproved  of,  about 
disputes  they  knew  nothing  of,  and  for  ends  that  would 
bring  them  no  advantage  !  The  Tolstoyans  held  them  up 
to  the  admiration  of  mankind,  as  types  of  true  Christianity  ; 
and  printed  books  assuring  them  their  faith  was  “just  the 
same  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ ;  ”  while  a  large  part  of  the 
Canadian  Press  was  eager  to  treat  them,  not  as  human 
beings  to  be  helped,  but  as  material  for  an  ignoble  political 
squabble. 


MORE  ABOUT  THE  PILGRIMAGE 


245 


Amid  such  confusion  and  contradiction,  how  was  a 
poor  Doukhobor  to  find  the  true  path  ?  What  he  has 
"Heard  in  Canada  of  our  race,  is  largely  an  echo  of 
Imperialism  :  of  the  Boer  War  and  of  indentured  Chinese 
labour.  Who  then  can  wonder  if  advice  from  any  of  us 

J 

has  no  more  effect  on  him  than  water  on  a  duck’s  back  ? 

The  situation  is  a  very  difficult  one.  How  are  these 
poor  people  to  break  away  from  their  hide-bound  sec¬ 
tarianism  ?  How  are  they  to  find  the  truth  ?  What  is 
needed  is  frank,  sensible  advice  and  criticism  from  some  one 

in  whom  they  have  confidence.  But  all  the  traditions  of 
%■ 

their  sect  tend  to  prevent  them  from  feeling  confidence  in 
any  one  outside  their  own  body.  Within  their  body 
Peter  'Vefigm,s  authority  is  supreme,  but  his  letters  show 
that  adroit  and  able  as  he  is  as  a  practical  politician,  he 
is  himself  far  too  perplexed  to  be  able  to  guide  others  in 
abstract  matters. 

Yet,  when  one  remembers  what  they  have  endured  * 
their  comprehension  of  the  evils  of  imperialism,  militarism, 
and  class-exploitation — and  when  one  contrasts  their  lives 
and  beliefs  with  those  of  our  own  agricultural  labourer, 
or  slum-dweller — one  sees  another  side  of  the  picture,  and 
cannot  but  admire  a  folk  who  isolated,  oppressed,  and 
deceived,  have  yet  endured  and  accomplished  so  much 
for  ideas  which  were  at  least  not  personally  selfish. 

How  little  truth  has  been  told  them,  and  how  many 

_ |  -t  ,  '  • 

lies  !  What  fine  material  there  is  in  them  for  the  building 
of  a  better  future  !  The  fields  indeed  are  ripe  unto  the 
harvest.  Oh,  that  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  would  endow 
the  labourers  he  sends  into  his  harvest  with  a  double 
portion  of  those  rarest  of  virtues — truthfulness  and 


common  sense 


I 


CHAPTER  VIII 


COMMUNISM 

A  .communal  form  of  property  holding  is  now  general 
among  the  Doukhobors.  It  was  once  the  usual  form  among 
ft  primitive  nations.  Western  nations  have  so  completely 
dropped  the  practice  that  they  have  come  to  look  upon  it 
as  abnormal,  utopian,  or  even  impossible,  and  I  frequently 
found  that  Canadians  regarded  communism  as  a  form  of 
society  sure  to  die  out  in  contact  with  the  better  indi¬ 
vidualistic  form  common  in  civilized  countries.  In 
England,  too,  I  found  that  members  of  the  Friends’ 
Doukhobdr  Committee,  sensible,  practical,  conscientious 
men — quite  ready  to  approve  of  the  Doukhobdr  repudia¬ 
tion  of  militarism — looked  on  communism  as  something: 
erratic  and  by  no  means  to  be  approved  or  encouraged. 
Nearly  every  one  had  a  decided  opinion  on  this  matter, 
but  I  met  no  one  who  gave  an  intelligible  and  sufficient 
reason  for  disapproving  of  communism.  The  few  who 
approved  of  it,  on  the  other  hand,  gave  what  at  first  sight 
seemed  satisfactory  reasons  for  their  view. 

In  the  studies  of  our  economists  (eg.  John  Stuart 
Mill)  communism  receives  respectful  treatment,  and  in 
the  aspirations  of  some  reformers  (eg.  William  Morris)  it 
is  looked  forward  to  as  an  ideal.  Our  opportunities  of 

seeing  its  advantages  and  disadvantages  in  practice,  are, 

246 


COMMUNISM 


547 


however,  so  rare  that  we  cannot  afford  to  miss  the 
chance  presented  by  the  Doukhobdr  settlement  in  Canada 
of  studying  it  in  operation. 

By  examining  Doukhobdr  communism  we  may  inci¬ 
dentally  throw  light  on  the  strength  or  weakness  of 
Tolstoy's  criticism  of  modern  civilization.  No  one  who 
has  any  knowledge  of  the  present  conditions  of  life  (sav 
in  England  for  example)  can  doubt  the  validity  of  much  of 
his  negative  criticism.  Labour  divorced  from  the  soil  ;  eight 
hundred  thousand  people  living  in  illegally  overcrowded 
dwellings  in  London  alone;  children  going  hungry  to 
school ;  vast  revenues  flowing  into  the  pockets  of  men 
who  have  not  earned  them  ;  town  populations  losing  their 
energy,  and  dying  out  in  the  third  generation  unless  renewed 
from  the  country  districts,  where,  again,  the  labourer  is 
hopeless  of  ever  being  allowed  to  own  the  land  he  works — 
all  this,  surely,  justifies  a  scathing  indictment.  Above 
all,  we  know  that  the  grinding  poverty  of  the  many, 
though  it  brings  wealth  to  the  few  does  not  bring  them 
health  or  real  happiness.  To  live  a  genuine  life  men  need 
to  be  in  touch  with  the  real  problems  of  human  existence ; 
to  be  happy  they  must  learn  to  co-operate  with  their 
fellows  for  worthy  objects,  but  the  complexitv  and 
artificiality  of  modern  society  make  a  normal  life  almost 
unattainable  and  cut  men  off  from  what  is  best  and  most 
important  for  them. 

But  granting — and  it  surely  cannot  reasonably  be 
denied — the  validity  of  much  of  Tolstoy’s  indictment  of 
modern  society,  may  we  assume  that  he  is  right  as  to  the 
remedy  P 

To  answer  that  question  one  has  to  discriminate 
between  two  sides  of  it.  As  to  the  first  of  these,  un¬ 
doubtedly  the  remedy  lies  in  the  direction  pointed  out  by 


248 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Tolstoy  :  it  is  by  serving  his  fellows  that  man  truly  lives.  It 
is  only  by  thought,  and  effort,  and  by  loving  sacrifice,  that 
true  progress  is  accomplished.  But  as  to  the  second  side 
of  the  matter  (it  is  here  the  crux  comes),  is  Tolstoy  right 
when  he  tells  us  that  as  a  matter  of  moral  duty  we  ought 
to  use  no  force  to  our  fellowr-man,  to  hold  no  private 
property,  and  to  reject  every  system  of  law  or  government 
that  employs  a  policeman  or  a  soldier  ? 

When  we  have  studied  the  Doukhobors  we  shall,  I 
think,  be  better  able  to  answer  this  question. 

To  show  the  point  of  view  from  which  (before  they 
reached  Canada)  I  personally,  in  common  with  many 
admirers  of  Tolstoy,  looked  on  Doukhobdr  communism, 
let  me  quote  from  an  article  I  contributed  to  the  New 
York  Outlook  in  December  1898  : 

^  Christ,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  is  certainly  reported  to  have 
said  many  things  which  cannot  be  made  to  agree  with  the  ideal  of 
f  getting  on  ”  and  “  being  successful/’  The  practice  of  the  Preacher- 
Carpenter  who  “had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,”  who  is  not  recorded 
as  having  possessed  a  single  coin,  who  had  nothing  to  leave  to  his 
mother,  and  whose  grave  was  borrowed  from  a  friend,  accords  fully 
with  the  message  he  delivered  when  he  preached  “  good  tidings  to 
the  poor ,”  and  said,  te  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon 
earth  ”  ;  “  Beware  of  all  covetousness,  for  a  man’s  life  consists  not 
in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesses  ”  ;  “  Woe  unto  ye 
rich’*;  “  Blessed  are  ye  poor”  ;  “Call  no  man  master”  ;  and 
“The  truth  shall  make  you  free.’* 

What  business  man  in  our  civilized  society  can  carry  on  his  affairs 
jn  accordance  with  Christ’s  advice,  “  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee, 
and  from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away.” 

A  Quite  naturally  a  simple  peasant-folk,  who  take  religion  seriously, 
as  something  important  and  intimately  linked  to  daily  life  and  con¬ 
duct,  find  themselves  obliged  either  to  look  out  for  a  religion  which 
shall  suit  them  better  than  that  of  Christ,  or  to  bring  their  lives 
more  nearly  into  conformity  with  his  teachings.  This  is  not  the 
case  with  those  vast  populations  that  have  accepted  the  guidance  of 


COMMUNISM 


249 


priests,  of  an  infallible  Church,  or  of  a  creed  which  they  accept,  not 
because  it  is  reasonable,  but  as  an  act  of  faith  (taking-  “  faith  ”  in 
what  has  become  its  most  common  significance — viz.  credulity). 

But  the  Doukhobors  are  a  people  who  have  no  priest,  no  infallible 
Church,  and  among  whom  credulity  has  not  been  elevated  into  a 
virtue.*  To  them  the  saying,  “  Why  call  ye  me  Lord,  Lord,  and  do 
not  the  things  which  I  say,”  appeals  with  full  force.  They  have  no 
priests,  dogmas,  or  ceremonies  to  save  them  from  the  stress  of 
Christ’s  appeal  to  the  reason  and  conscience  which,  dormant  or 
active,  are  in  each  of  us. 

What,  then,  are  the  Doukhobors  doing  towards  carrying  out 
Christ’s  economic  teaching  ?  They  disapprove  of  private  property, 
and  aim  at  communism.  They  till  their  fields  in  common,  and  each 
village  divides  up  the  produce  after  it  has  been  gathered  in,  according 
to  the  number  of  members  in  each  family.  When,  as  during  the 
late  persecution,  one  or  several  village  communes  are  impoverished, 
the  other  Doukhobor  communities  exert  themselves  very  greatly  to 
succour  them.  And  the  communal  conscience  has  made  itself  felt 
to  such  a  degree  that  a  redistribution  of  property  has  been  under¬ 
taken  in  order  that  all  might  be  approximately  on  one  level  of 
material  well-being. 

Of  course,  as  with  all  things  human,  these  attempts  are  not  fully 
and  completely  successful.  Not  every  Doukhobor  lives  his  life  free 
from  the  evils  of  covetousness.  In  their  dealings  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  they  are  scrupulously  honest  and  faithful  in  performing 
all  that  they  undertake ;  but  still  the  money  element,  which  by 
their  own  showing  is  a  sure  sign  that  service  is  being  rendered  not 
from  love,  but  from  some  lower  motive,  is  present  in  the  transaction. 

If,  however,  we  realize  that  progress  is  the  natural  and  proper 
condition  in  which  humanity  exists,  the  effort  made  by  the  Doukho¬ 
bors  assumes  its  proper  importance.  The  Doukhobors  like  the 
early  Christians,  and  like  many  sects  persecuted  as  heretics  by  the 
dominant  churches,  strive  to  bring  their  actual  economic  and  social 
life  as  nearly  into  conformity  with  the  demands  of  conscience  as 
they  can.  And  this  is  a  progressive  movement,  never  resting  for 
many  years  on  one  level,  sometimes  even  retrograding  for  a  time, 
and  then,  under  other  circumstances,  again  advancing. 

And  what  have  been  the  practical  results  of  this  spirit  of 

*  The  reader  will  please  remember  that  this  was  written  before  I 
knew  them  intimately. 


250 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


co-operation  and  mutual  aid  among  the  Doukhobors  ?  Just  this  : 
that  they  have  prospered  whenever  the  Government  has  left  them 
alone  ;  that,  banished  to  the  inclement  Wet  Mountains  of  the 
Caucasus,  where  even  the  harley  crop  failed  as  often  as  it  ripened, 
and  left  at  the  mercy  of  wild  hill-tribes  who  were  continually 
fighting  and  stealing  among  themselves,  these  Doukhobors  prospered 
and  inspired  respect  among  their  neighbours  ;  that,  when  persecution 
burst  upon  them,  they  stood  by  each  other,  and  (though  more  than 
a  thousand  perished  in  three  years  out  of  one  community  of  four 
thousand)  they  survived  under  circumstances  which  seemed  to  insure 
their  extermination  unless  they  abjured  their  faith. 

I  have  quoted  at  suc*h  length,  first  to  show  that  I 
certainly  approached  the  matter  with  no  bias  against 
communism,  and,  secondly,  to  show  the  line  of  thought 
that  led  me  to  favour'  that  form  of  property-holding. 
The  error  I  made  in  supposing  that  communism  existed 
among  the  Doukhobors  when  they  were  banished  to  the 
Caucasus,  was  one  I  shared  with  the  Tolstoyans  generally. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  the  individual  ownership  of 
property  was  a  sign  of  selfishness,  but  that  the  communal 
ownership  of  property  was  a  sign  of  unselfishness;  and 
this  was  just  the  view  expressed  by  Tolstoy.  In  February 
1900,  when  it  seemed  evident  that  a  large  part  of  the 
Doukhobors  in  Canada  were  inclined  to  adopt  individual¬ 
ism,  Tolstoy  sent  them  an  urgent  letter  (given  in  the 
next  chapter)  exhorting  them  to  communism,  and  express¬ 
ing,  in  the  strongest  manner,  the  belief  that  communism 
is  a  moral — as  contrasted  with  individualism  which  is  an 
Immoral — form  of  property  holding.  When  Tolstoy’s 
letter  was  written,  neither  he  nor  any  of  us  knew  how 
strong  a  hold  Verigin  has  on  their  allegiance  and  reverence, 
nor  how  little  any  arguments  or  exhortations  from  outside 
would  affect  them  one  way  or  other.  Tolstoy’s  letter  (as 
impressive  a  statement  of  the  view  now  adopted  by  the 


ONE  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL 


Plate  XII 


library 
OF  THE 


COMMUNISM 


251 


Doukhobor  community  as  could  well  be  framed)  had 
practically  no  effect  on  them  at  the  time,  and  the  move¬ 
ment  from  communism  towards  individualism  continued  to 
gain  ground  until  Verigin  reversed  it.  This  again  shows 
that  the  influence  Tolstoy  has  exercised  on  the  Doukho- 
bors  has  operated  through  Verigin.  Tolstoy’s  writings 
have  only  had  a  small  effect  directly  on  the  sect,  but  he 
has  had  a  considerable  effect  on  Verigin’s  opinions,  and 
Verigin’s  opinions  have  been  almost  unquestioningly 
accepted  by  the  general  body  of  Doukhobdrs. 

One  may  pause  here  to  notice  that  two  different  ques¬ 
tions  are  very  frequently  confused  ;  the  first  is  whether 
communism  is  practically  the  wisest  and  best  way  of 
getting  the  people’s  material  needs  provided  for ;  the 
second  is  whether  communism  is,  in  general  (and  apart 
from  the  special  circumstances  of  a  particular  case)  morally 
superior  to  individualism.  I  think  the  sequel  will  show 
that  the  two  questions  must  be  kept  distinct. 

There  were  circumstances  connected  with  the  Dou-  Y 
khobdr  migration,  which  brought  prominently  to  the  front 
certain  advantages  communism  undoubtedly  possesses. 
The  actual  financing  of  the  movement ;  the  planning  of 
their  future  villages  ;  the  distribution  of  what  was  collected 
for  the  Doukhobdrs,  were  all  made  easier  by  whatever 
tended  to  throw  the  Doukhobdrs’  possessions  into  a  common 
lot,  and  were  made  more  difficult  by  whatever  tended  in 
the  contrary  direction.  The  advantages  of  communism  in 
making  small  resources  go  as  far  as  possible,  were  very 
evident  when  it  became  a  question  of  supplying  each 
village  with  a  couple  of  horses,  or  a  few  cows.  A  much- 
needed  loan  (which  might  have  been  successfully  negotiated 
had  the  Doukhobor  commune  been  as  firmly  centralized 
in  1898  as  it  is  now  that  Peter  Verigin  is  among  them) 


252 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


broke  down  just  because  their  community  was  then  in  too 
fluid  and  indefinite  a  state  to  be  able  to  offer  good  col- 

O 

lective  security. 

Prince  D.  A.  Hilkdff  and  all  the  Russians  most  capable 
of  judging  and  most  interested  in  the  problem  of  getting 
the  Doukhobdrs  comfortably  and  successfully  settled,  were 
keenly  anxious  to  induce  them  to  adopt,  or  retain, 
communism. 

The  Garden  City  Movement  and  the  Ealing  Tenants 
Limited,  in  England  to-day,  are  attempts  to  recover  in 
an  individualistic  state,  economic  advantages  which  would 
naturally  accrue  to  communistic  societies. 

But  whatever  the  advantages  of  communism  may  be, 
no  sooner  had  the  first  Doukhobdrs  reached  Canada  than 
it  became  obvious  that  many  of  them  preferred  to  face 
the  risks  and  dangers  of  individualism, — nor  do  I  think  that 
in  so  choosing  they  were  mainly  prompted  by  selfishness, 
or  showed  themselves  morally  inferior  to  their  brethren. 

From  1899  when  they  reached  Canada,  to  1903  when 
Peter  Verigin  joined  them  there  and  assumed  active 
leadership,  an  unusual  state  of  things  existed.  They 
were,  during  that  time,  unable  to  decide  either  for  or 
against  communism.  As  has  already  been  described  in 
a  previous  chapter,  some  villages  became  communist, 
others  individualist.  The  people  everywhere  had  their 
own  clothes,  utensils,  and  personal  belongings  ;  but  in 
regard  to  wages  earned  at  railway  construction,  or  bv 
gathering  senega  root, — as  well  as  in  all  that  concerned 
raising  crops,  marketing  surplus  produce,  purchasing  sup¬ 
plies,  dividing  the  work,  tending,  rearing,  using  and  selling 
horses  or  cattle — a  number  of  villages  were  communist, 
while  others  were  individualist ;  and  the  number  of  com¬ 
munist  village  gradually  diminished,  though  it  was  evident 


ONE  OF  THE  NEW  SCHOOL 


Plate  XIII 


v- 


* 


■  t,  s 


uf^BRAHY 
OF  THE 


COMMUNISM 


253 


(from  the  statistics  of  their  cattle,  horses,  and  implements, 
as  well  as  from  other  indications)  that  the  communist 
villages  generally  prospered  more  rapidly  than  the  indi¬ 
vidualist  villages.  So  marked  was  the  tendency  towards 
individualism  that  the  best  informed  judges  on  the  spot, 
felt  sure  that  an  end  of  Doukhobbr  communism  was  not 
far  off. 

Herbert  P.  Archer,  for  instance,  wrote  of  the  Saskat¬ 
chewan  Doukhobors,  in  August  1900  :  “  Only  one  of  the  ten 
villages  is  now  communistic  and  some  unfortunate  families 
are  left  more  or  less  stranded.  Among  the  Swan  Kiver 
villages  there  are  three  really  communistic  and  likely  to 
remain  so ;  one  is  avowedly  individualistic,  and  in  the  rest 
is  war :  individualists  versus  communists.  Among  the 
Yorkton  villages  there  are  now  few  communal  villages, 
and  they  will  be  fewer  before  the  year  is  out.’’ 

It  was  also  very  noticeable  that  while  the  members 
of  some  communist  villages  in  which  there  were  strong 
leaders,  and  of  individualist  villages  where  no  strong  com¬ 
munist  party  was  trying  to  alter  that  arrangement,  were 
able  to  live  in  comparative  peace  and  harmony,  consider¬ 
able  friction  and  dissatisfaction  became  manifest  wherever 
there  was  any  indefiniteness  as  to  the  arrangement  that  was 
to  prevail.  Uncertainty  as  to  what  one  man  may  fairly 
claim  from  another,  seems  fatal  to  good  feeling.  This,  I 
believe,  is  a  fundamental  fact  of  great  importance  in  all 
human  society :  that  to  promote  peace  and  amity  among 
men  a  distinct  understanding  as  to  the  limits  of  their  property 
claims  on  one  another  is  essential,  quite  apart  from  the 
question  whether  they  mean  to  use  their  property  selfishly 
or  unselfishly.  A  man  may  want  a  spade  for  no  other 
end  than  to  dig  potatoes  for  a  poor  neighbour,  but 
friction  is  almost  sure  to  arise  if  he  cannot  find  out 


254 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


whether  he  has  a  right  to  the  spade,  or  of  whom  he  may 
borrow  it  if  it  be  not  his. 

An  unpleasant  feature  of  the  situation  was  the  un¬ 
friendly  relation  that  sometimes  arose  between  one  village 
and  another.  For  instance,  in  December  1899,  Archer 
wrote — 

“  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  in  one  village  your  loan  was 
not  much  use  to  the  people.  It  was  a  poor  village  and 
needing  help,  and  they  bought  horses  with  the  money. 
But  it  owed  money  to  another  and  richer  village,  which 
took  away  those  horses,  and  credited  the  animals  against 
the  debt  at  about  half  what  they  had  cost.  The  horses 
wrere  not  wrorth  more,  the  richer  village  averred.  This  is 
a  very  shameful  piece  of  work,  and  is  justly  reprobated 
by  the  better  class  of  Doukhobors,  But  the  creditor 
village  kept  the  horses,  and  for  some  time  the  debtor 
village  had  to  rely  on  the  teams  of  a  neighbouring  village 
to  fetch  its  flour  supply  from  town."’ 

The  appearance  of  Peter  Verigin  on  the  scene  quite 
altered  this  state  of  affairs  and  the  whole  trend  of  events. 
Not  only  did  the  individualist  villages  of  the  North  and 
South  Colonies  resume  communism,  but  the  communism  of 
the  different  villages  was  centralized,  so  that  the  communal 
funds  of  both  North  and  South  Colony  are  nowr  all  con¬ 
trolled  by  a  Committee  of  Three. 

Of  the  material  advantages  that  accrue  from  this 
arrangement  under  Verigin’s  leadership,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  Professor  James  Mavor  of  Toronto,  whose  interest 
in  the  Doukhobors  has  already  been  mentioned,  visited 
them  lately,  and  gave  an  account  of  their  prosperity,  of 
wdiich  the  following  is  a  condensed  summary. 

“  The  Leader  of  the  Doukhobors,  Peter  Verigin,  is 
indeed  a  remarkable  man.  He  has  altered  the  character 


COMMUNISM 


255 


of  the  community,  has  changed  their  mode  of  agriculture, 
gradually  introducing  modern  methods,  and  has  built  up 
an  organization  out  of  chaos.  Several  thousand  acres  of 
land  have  been  broken,  and  the  area  under  cultivation  this 
year  will  be  much  greater  than  that  sown  last  year.  Mr. 
Verigin  is  determined  to  have  first-class  horses  and  cattle. 
Just  now  he  is  negotiating  the  purchase  of  some  high- 
class  stock.  In  the  past  year  or  two  the  colony  has  pur¬ 
chased  land  to  a  value  of  $60,000,  and  invested  largely 
in  farm  machinery.  The  latest  implement  secured  is  a 
steam  plough,  the  first  in  use  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
At  present  eight  steam  mills  are  at  work  in  the  com¬ 
munity.  These  run  flour  mills,  saw  mills,  flax  mills,  etc. 
The  engines  are  in  perfect  order,  and  during  the  twelve 
months  they  have  been  in  the  settlement  have  not  been 
idle  one  working  day.  From  one  kind  of  work  to  another 
they  are  moved  about,  so  that  full  advantage  is  taken  of 
them. 

“  A  large  warehouse  for.  the  distribution  of  goods 
among  the  villages  is  being  built  in  a  convenient  central 
position  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  new  line,  which  runs 
through  the  Doukhobor  lands.  Last  year  100,000 
bushels  of  wheat  were  grown,  and  the  Colony  has  a 
milling  capacity  for  this  amount.  This  is  now  no  more 
than  sufficient — in  fact,  not  quite  sufficient — for  their 
own  use.  Owing  to  their  plan  of  sowing  flax  in  the  newly 
broken  land,  the  amount  of  wheat  raised  does  not  increase 
as  rapidly  as  it  otherwise  would. 

“  I  saw  linen  cloth  of  excellent  quality  made  from 
flax  grown  by  the  Doukhobors  themselves  in  the  North¬ 
west.  At  the  present  time  the  Colonists  are  building 
large  common  stables  for  each  village.  Cattle,  horses, 
and  even  hens,  are  kept  in  common.  In  the  winter  the 


256 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


men  engage  in  lumbering  on  Government  lands,  for 
which  they  hold  permits.  The  Colony  has  purchased  a 
brick  and  tile-making  plant.  The  building  of  so  many 
railways  in  their  vicinity  has  enabled  the  Doukhobdrs  to 
make  large  earnings  in  cash.  Practically  all  of  this 
is  being  used  as  capital  for  the  exploitation  of  the 
land. 

“All  goods  for  the  Colony  are  bought  in  wholesale 
quantities.  Sugar  comes  from  Vancouver,  leather  from 
Lindsay,  Ontario  ;  cotton  and  woollen  goods  from  various 
places.  This  Doukhobbr  community  is  the  largest  experi¬ 
ment  in  pure  communism  that  has  ever  been  attempted. 
The  total  working  force  is  about  two  thousand  men.  Of 
these  at  least  one  thousand  can  be  spared  for  work  out¬ 
side  the  Colony.  In  this  way  they  are  in  a  position  to 
carry  out  large  railway  contracts. 

44  While  no  doubt  there  are  in  so  large  a  body  a  few 
who  look  with  jealousy  upon  Peter  Verigin,  the  great 
bulk  of  the  Doukhobdrs  undoubtedly  have  implicit  faith 
in  him.  From  early  morning,  when  the  village  is  roused 
by  the  singing  by  a  chorus  which  patrols  the  street,  until 
evening,  when  the  same  choir  sings  them  to  sleep,  the 
villagers  find  their  work  in  common  very  agreeable  to 
them.  They  are,  upon  the  whole,  exceedingly  comfort¬ 
able  and  happy.  Village  life  has  great  attractions  for 
them. 

“Their  working  day  is  from  five  in  the  morning 
until  eight  in  the  evening.  But  this  is  divided  in  a 
fashion  peculiar  to  themselves  into  three  shifts  of  five  hours 
each.  One  shift  of  men  and  horses  goes  to  work  at  five, 
quitting  at  ten,  for  the  five  hours’  rest,  while  another 
shift  continues  the  work.  At  three,  the  first  shift  resumes 
work,  and  continues  until  8  p.m.  Thus,  one  shift  of  men 


FLAX  THRESHING. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOI? 


COMMUNISM 


257 


and  horses  has  had  ten  hours  of  work,  broken  by  a 
period  of  five  hours1  rest,  the  other  has  had  but  five 
hours  of  work.  The  heavy  and  light  shares  of  work 
are  taken  turn  and  turn  about  by  the  two  shifts  of  men 
on  alternate  days.11 

66  The  foregoing  remarks  apply  to  what  are  known  as 
the  North  and  South  Colonies.  The  Doukhobdrs  of  the 
Prince  Albert  Colony  are  more  individualistic.  They  do 
not  hold  their  land  in  common,  and  only  to  a  small 
extent  co-operate  with  their  brethren  of  the  North  and 
South  Colonies. 

“  If  Mr.  Verigin  can  succeed  in  organizing  the  labour 
of  the  large  body  of  men  he  has  to  deal  with,  and  in 
holding  them  together,  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  a  few 
years  the  Doukhobor  lands  will  be  among  the  most  pro¬ 
ductive  in  the  north-west.11 

A  proof  even  more  convincing  than  this  report  of  the 
rapid  progress  the  Doukhobdrs  made  last  year,  is  fur¬ 
nished  by  the  Communal  Accounts  presented  to  the 
General  Meeting  held  at  the  village  of  Nadezhda,  on  28th 
February  1904. 

Verigin  commenced  his  reign  in  Canada  when  every¬ 
thing  was  in  confusion,  and  when  a  great  waste  of  resources 
had  just  taken  place.  Cattle  and  sheep  had  been  set  free, 
clothing  and  harness  had  been  burnt  or  abandoned,  work 
had  been  neglected,  and  enormous  energy  had  run  to  waste 
in  a  semi-political,  semi-religious  agitation  which  was  quite 
abnormal.  Nevertheless,  after  a  year’s  communal  activity 
he  was  able  to  present  accounts  in  which  the  assets  in 
land,  buildings,  stock,  implements,  etc.,  etc.,  do  not  figure 
at  all  ;  in  which  all  capital  expenditure  is  classed  as 
ordinary  expenditure,  and  which  yet  closes  with  outstand¬ 
ing  liabilities  (omitting  future  payments  for  land  they 


258 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


have  contracted  to  purchase),  of  less  than  $50,000,  repre¬ 
sented  by  debts  to  merchants  for  goods  purchased,  and  to 
the  York  ton  Bank  for  money  borrowed. 

In  considering  these  accounts  one  has  to  remember 
to  how  large  an  extent  the  Doukhobors  are  self-support¬ 
ing,  and  consume  what  they  produce.  The  monetary 
transactions,  which  alone  figure  in  these  accounts,  repre¬ 
sent  only  a  part  of  the  value  of  their  production.  What, 
however,  do  the  figures  show  us?  The  income  is  put 
down  at  $166,901 ;  made  up  of  over  $111,000  earned  by 
individual  Doukhobors,  nearly  $8,000  earned  by  com¬ 
munal  contracts,  over  $10,000  obtained  by  the  sale  of  the 
senega  root  {radix  Senegal ),  which  grows  in  their  vicinity, 
over  $6,000  realized  by  the  sale  of  cattle,  $4,000  borrowed 
from  a  Yorkton  Bank  (this  should  hardly  have  been 
classed  as  income),  while  the  balance  came  from  a  balance 
of  cash  in  hand  to  begin  with,  and  from  contributions 
made  by  the  Doukhobors  to  start  the  communal  business. 

Turning  now  to  the  expenditure,  we  find  it  divided 
into  five  sections. 

Section  I.  is  expenditure  for  land.  To  Government, 
$10  each  for  2,137  homesteads,  equal,  $21,370  ;  another 
$10,000  has  gone  as  part  payment  for  land  purchased, 
chiefly  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Co.  (The  remaining 
$50,000  of  the  $60,000  mentioned  by  Professor  Mavor, 
is,  apparently,  a  liability  not  shown  in  the  accounts — 
which  are  of  a  rough-and-ready  kind.) 

Section  II.  is  made  up  of  purchases  of  horses  and  sheep 
to  a  total  of  over  $39,000. 

Section  III.  consists  of  purchases  of  agricultural  machi¬ 
nery  for  nearly  $44,000.  These  first  three  sections  deal 
with  what  an  ordinary  trading  company  would  consider  as 
investments  of  capital. 


COMMUNISM 


259 


Section  IV.  is  the  only  section  that  consists  chiefly  of 
ordinary  current  expenditure.  Over  $29,000  has  gone 
for  drapery,  etc.  $13,445  for  harness  and  leather  goods. 
$5,000  for  winter  boots.  $5,800  for  iron  goods,  pots,  pans 
and  tools.  About  $2,300  for  “tea,  sugar,  and  lubrica¬ 
tion  for  reapers  and  for  carts.’’1  $2,725  for  “  salt,  paraffin, 
and  glass.11  $1,780  for  soap.  The  total  of  this  section 
(comprising  nearly  the  whole  of  their  ordinary  expendi¬ 
ture)  only  comes  to  $86,908. 

Section  V.  is,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable  of  all.  It 
amounts  to  a  little  over  $11,000;  and,  besides  the  repay¬ 
ment  of  over  $4,000  of  old  debts,  and  such  items  as  $200 
for  books  and  $285  for  “  paper,  pencils,  and  other  writ¬ 
ing  materials,  stamps,  etc.,11. and  $855  for  “travelling 
expenses  of  Peter  Verigin  and  his  attendants,11  it  contains 
such  items  as  $500  “sent  to  brothers  and  Elders  in 
Yakutsk  (Siberia)  for  the  sick  and  those  unable  to  work. 
$300  sent  to  Leo  Tolstoy  in  aid  of  the  Pavlovtsi,  who 
have  been  condemned  to  penal  servitude.”  (The  Pav¬ 
lovtsi  are  not  Doukhobdrs,  and  this  remittance  must  be 
regarded  partly  as  an  acknowledgment  of  Tolstoy's  exer¬ 
tions  on  behalf  of  the  Doukhobdrs.)  $500  “  sent  to 
Tchertkoff  for  his  help  to,  and  expenditure  on  behalf  of, 
the  Doukhobdrs  at  the  time  of  the  migration.11  $300  to 
a  brother-in-law  of  Tchertkoffs,  and  $165  “paid  to 
Archer — teacher  of  the  English  language  in  the  North 
Colony.11  * 

*  One  decision  arrived  at  by  the  meeting  to  which  these  accounts 
were  presented,  was  with  regard  to  an  offer  the  Friends  (Quakers)  of 
Philadelphia  had  made  to  supply  funds  to  erect  a  model  school.  It  was 
“  decided  to  be  unnecessary.”  Y.  Bontch-Brouevitch  (to  whose  paper, 
Razsvet,  April  1904,  I  am  indebted  for  these  accounts)  states  the  reason 
for  this  decision,  and  it  is  a  reason  characteristic  of  the  worst  traits  in 
the  Doukhobbr  character — suspiciousness  and  needless  distrust  of  other 


260 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Even  in  small  things  a  strong  tendency  to  centraliza¬ 
tion  and  to  the  utilization  of  mechanical  appliances  is 
noticeable.  For  instance,  I  lately  received  a  type-written 
letter  in  Russian  from  Verigin,  evidently  typed  by  his 
secretary,  and  enclosing  a  cheque,  repaying  in  one 
remittance  $1,250  which  had  been  lent  to  five  different 
villages  in  1899 ;  a  repayment  that  could  easily  have  been 
shirked  (after  all  the  confusion  of  the  pilgrimage)  had 
the  Doukhobors  not  wished  to  act  honestly. 

But  the  remarkable  and  quite  unforeseen  part  of  the 
matter  is  this :  that  while  the  re-establishment  of 
communism  does  not  at  all  indicate  (as  my  Canadian 
and  Quaker  friends  seemed  to  think  must  be  the  case) 
any  industrial  or  social  deterioration,  neither  does  it  at 
all  correspond  (as  I,  agreeing  in  this  respect  with  the 
Tolstoyans,  was  at  one  time  inclined  to  assume)  with  any 

people.  He  says,  “  The  Quakers  establish  their  schools  with  the  aim  of 
slyly  catching  pupils  in  the  net  of  their  creed.  The  Quakers  always 
introduce  into  their  undertakings  an  element  of  hypocrisy,  and  when 
helping  people  in  distress  or  in  misfortune  (as  they  helped  the  Doukho¬ 
bors)  they  so  arrange  matters  that  an  onlooker  plainly  sees  that  their 
efforts  are  prompted  by  vanity,  and  by  a  wish  to  soothe  their  own  con¬ 
sciences  by  their  benefactions ;  and  that  they  wish  to  buy  an  entrance 
ticket  to  the  ‘  Kingdom  of  Heaven,’  to  which  they  ascend  up  a  staircase 
of  arrogant  benevolence.”  This  is  so  grossly  unjust  to  a  sect  which 
contains  as  large  a  proportion  of  modest  and  disinterested  men  as  any 
religious  body  among  us,  that  I  am  surprised  Bontcli-Brouevitch  should 
have  published  it  and  put  his  name  to  it.  At  the  same  time  I  am  bound 
to  admit  that  I  believe  he  is  here  correctly  expressing  the  opinion  of 
many  Doukhobors  and  of  some  of  their  Kussian  advisers. 

The  Friends  have  rendered  very  valuable  assistance  to  the  Doukho¬ 
bors,  and  it  is  not  their  fault  if  their  efforts  have  not  always  been  rightly 
appreciated ;  but  suspicion  has  been  ingrained  in  the  Doukhobors 
during  generations.  They  do  not  themselves  speak  frankly  and  truth¬ 
fully  to  strangers  about  the  aims  of  their  sect,  and  they  therefore  cannot 
believe  that  men  of  other  sects  are  frank  and  truthful  with  them.  The 
Society  of  Friends  would  probably  act  wisely  in  not,  at  present,  pressing 
on  the  Doukhobors  any  unsolicited  assistance. 


COMMUNISM 


261 

moral  advance.  In  many  cases  it  seems  rather  to  indicate 
the  reverse. 

To  hold  a  commune  together  requires  either  a  great 
identity  and  immutability  of  life-habits,  or  a  stereotyped 
religious  tradition :  so  that  the  members,  from  force  of 
habit  or  from  religious  hypnotism,  may  not  wish  to  do 
anything  that  runs  counter  to  the  communal  customs. 
The  only  other  thing,  apparently,  that  renders  com¬ 
munism  possible  is  a  very  strong  leadership  dominating 
the  entire  group.  In  the  case  last  mentioned,  rapid 
collective  material  progress  is  quite  possible,  so  long  as 
the  strong  and  capable  leader  is  there  to  sanction  changes 
and  decide  what  changes  shall  be  tolerated,  and  when  they 
shall  be  introduced. 

Readers  of  Walter  Bagehot’s  Physics  and  Politics  will 
remember  some  acute  remarks  of  his  on  the  “  cake  of 
custom 11  which  is  needed  to  hold  primitive  societies 
together,  as  well  as  on  the  difficulty  human  societies  have 
in  combining  stability  with  progress.  One  sees  Bagehot’s 
argument  well  illustrated  by  the  example  of  the  Doukho- 
bors,  which  also  suggests  that  a  temporary  solution  of  the 
dilemma  may  be  found  in  the  rule  of  a  man  (a  Moses  or 
a  Verigin)  to  whose  words  the  authority  of  inspiration  is 
accorded. 

The  objection  to  communism  as  we  see  it  re-established 
among  them,  is  really  a  moral  objection  ;  though,  at  first 
sight,  it  may  not  appear  as  weighty  as  the  moral  indict¬ 
ment  Tolstoy  brings  against  individualism.  The  fact,  I 
suspect,  is  that  any  form  of  human  organization  that  a 
man  of  Tolstoy's  powerful  critical  capacity,  impulsive 
temperament,  and  eagerness  for  human  improvement 
might  live  under,  would  (being  an  imperfect  human 
contrivance)  seem  to  him  abominably  wicked ;  and  the 


262 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


form  of  which  he  had  less  personal  experience  would,  by 
contrast,  always  appear  to  him  comparatively  moral.  I 
feel  sure  that  if  he  cannot  tolerate  the  yoke  of  Nicholas  II., 
still  less  would  he  tolerate  that  of  Peter  Verigin,  which 
certainly  comes  closer  to  the  actual  daily  life  and  thought 
and  occupation  of  each  Doukhobdr  than  the  rule  of  any 
Emperor  or  Pope  in  Christendom  comes  to  his  subjects 
or  to  the  adherents  of  his  Church.  Nor  do  I  say  this 
as  blaming  Verigin  for  his  activity.  His  people  needed 
leadership,  they  asked  for  it,  they  had  got  into  terrible 
trouble  for  lack  of  it,  and  he  has  given  it  them,  and 
given  it  them  with  judgment  and  ability,  not  sparing  him¬ 
self  the  drudgery  of  attention  to  details,  nor  the  difficult 
work  of  adjusting  personal  quarrels.  My  point  merely  is, 
that  the  forces  of  disintegration  which,  though  not  at 
present  very  strong  or  very  much  in  evidence,  certainly 
exist  among  the  Doukhobors  (as  shown  by  the  fact  that, 
a  few  at  a  time,  individual  Doukhobors  and  Doukhobdr 
families  break  off  and  escape  from  the  commune),  cannot 
be  fairly  treated  as  proofs  of  selfishness  or  of  moral 
inferiority. 

Doubtless  there  are  cases  in  which  men  break  off  under 
selfish  influences.  A  strong  man,  capable  of  earning  good 
wages,  or  seeing  a  chance  to  start  on  his  own  account, 
may  grudge  the  community  the  fruits  of  his  labour,  or 
may  feel  that  his  exertions  in  the  community  are  not 
sufficiently  esteemed.  But  though  this  is  one  disinte¬ 
grating  factor,  another,  certainly  present  and  which  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  must  always  have  been  a  strong  factor 
in  the  decay  of  communes,  is  the  moral  revolt  felt  by 
sincere  and  strenuous  natures  against  the  cramping  influence 
communism  has  on  individuality,  and  against  excessive 
claims  of  allegiance  to  old-established  customs,  or  to  some 


COMMUNISM 


263 


particular  Leader.  The  narrow  sectarianism  or  clannish¬ 
ness  that  usually  accompanies  communism,  must  tend  to 
produce  a  reaction  in  independent  minds.  Where  com¬ 
munism  exists,  a  man  who  wishes  to  think  his  own  thoughts 
and  express  them,  and  to  make  his  own  experiments  in 
life  and  attempt  reforms  that  seem  to  him  desirable, 
must  (unless  he  be  himself  the  Leader)  inevitably  produce 
friction,  and  be  a  disintegrating  force. 

The  position  in  which  Verigin  finds  himself  is  one  of 
great  difficulty,  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  judge  harshly 
the  shortcomings  of  one  who  is  evidently  trying  to  organize 
a  community  for  their  advantage.  The  perplexity  of  the 
position,  and  the  difficulty  of  understanding  what  is  going 
on,  is  enormously  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  view  of 
life  he  has  picked  up  in  exile  is  a  critical  view  which  has 
a  powerfully  disintegrating  tendency,  whereas  the  work 
he  now  has  in  hand  is  a  constructive  work  the  whole 
direction  of  which  runs  counter  to  the  philosophy  he 
has  accepted.  I  spent  some  hours  with  Verigin  when  he 
passed  through  London  in  December  1902,  and  my  im¬ 
pression  is  that  he  does  not  himself  see  the  dilemma  he  has 
to  face.  If  the  extreme  individualism  of  the  Tolstoy 
movement  is  to  prevail :  if  “  We  cannot  promise  any¬ 
thing,”  “Even  in  little  things  we  want  to  be  free,” — if, 
that  is  to  say,  a  man  is  always  to  act  just  as  seems  proper 
to  him  at  the  moment,  regardless  of  any  social  or  political 
obligations  or  agreements — then  all  such  attempts  as  that 
to  which  Verigin  is  applying  his  strength  are  foredoomed 
to  failure.  It  is  only  by  people  consenting  to  promise 
much  to  one  another,  and  sacrificing  a  large  part  of  their 
freedom,  that  any  communist  experiment  or  even  any  co¬ 
operative  undertaking,  can  possibly  succeed. 

Through  not  seeing  this,  and  through  using  the 


264 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


individualist  phraseology  of  the  Tolstoyan  while  aiming  at 
a  social  practice,  Verigin  lays  himself  very  open  to  accu¬ 
sations  of  insincerity, — accusations  which  I  am  reluctant 
to  accept,  for  I  know  how  much  more  difficult  it  is  to  get 
a  human  society  to  work  than  it  is  to  frame  indictments 
of  existing  institutions.  Still,  make  what  allowance  we 
may,  it  remains  true  that  “  his  voice  is  the  voice  of  Jacob, 
but  his  hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau.” 

There  is  much  in  the  state  of  the  Doukhobors  to-day 
which  reminds  one  of  the  state  of  the  children  of  Israel 
in  the  time  of  Moses :  in  both  cases  we  have  a  theocracy 
under  a  divinely  appointed  ruler,  recognizing  very  exact¬ 
ing  moral  obligations  in  regard  to  other  members  of  the 
“peculiar  people,”  but  regarding  all  the  Gentiles  with 
great  suspicion,  and  not  intermarrying  with  them. 

The  extraordinary  conflict  between  the  real  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  case,  and  the  theory  accepted  by  their  Leader 
while  he  was  in  exile,  is  thrown  into  prominence  by  the 
V''  fact  that  this  exclusive  clan,  which  aims  at  becoming  not 
merely  a  sect  and  a  nation,  but  a  great  agricultural  and 
industrial  company — calls  itself  by  the  curiously  inappro- 
y  priate  name  of  “  The  Christian  Commune  of  Universal 
Brotherhood.” 

There  is  no  denying  the  service  P.  Verigin  renders  to 
the  Doukhobors  by  acting  as  their  Leader.  But  there  is 
also  no  denying  that  there  is  a  considerable  element  of 
secrecy  and  covert  despotism  about  it,  and  the  opposition 
to  it  is,  in  some  cases,  a  moral  revolt  entailing  heavy 
material  sacrifices. 

“  Dissatisfaction  at  the  new  communist  regime  is 
keener  at  Devil’s  Lake  than  elsewhere,”  wrote  a  well- 
informed  observer,  in  August  1903,  “  and  quite  a  few 
Doukhobors  are  leaving  the  villages.  Their  brethren 


COMMUNISM 


265 


revile  them  as  4  no  Doukhobors  ’  and  call  them  6  Galicians,’ 
which  is  a  kind  of  insult.  (The  Doukhobors  despise  the 
Galicians.)  According  to  Verigin’s  orders  individualists 
must  leave  the  villages,  and  this  probably  prevents  many 
from  rebelling,  who,  for  all  that,  are  unwilling  communists. 
Communism  brings  discord  and  strife.  At  Novo-Trdy  tskoe 
(not  the  Devil’s  Lake  village  of  that  name,  but  the  other) 
there  have  been  at  least  five  regular  fights  since  communism 
was  forced  on  them.  It  is  not  easy  to  get  details  of  these 
things,  but  on  one  occasion,  at  least,  it  was  a  matter  of 
pitchforks  and  staves.  A  Doukhobdr  from  the  Devil’s 
Lake  Novo-Trbytskoe,  told  me  that  when  they  were 
individualists  they  lived  peacefully,  but  latterly  there  has 
been  much  quarrelling  and  some  fighting.” 

Ivan  Kanigin  appears  to  be  a  typical  case  of  a  man 
dissatisfied  with  communism.  He  was  a  member  of 
Troytskoe  village,  in  the  Swan  River  Colony,  working 
with  his  brother  and  having  two  sons.  The  village  was 
individualist,  and  took  no  part  in  the  pilgrimage  move¬ 
ment.  The  family  had  horses,  cows,  sheep,  implements, 
and  considerable  land  under  cultivation.  Verigin  on  his 
arrival  in  Canada  got  the  village  to  go  in  for  communism. 
Kanigin  offered  some  objections,  but  Verigin  spoke  of 
communism  as  a  kind  of  experiment  which,  after  a  year  or 
so,  could  be  given  up  if  not  liked.  So  Kanigin  agreed  to 
try  it,  and  has  been  unhappy  almost  ever  since.  Com¬ 
munism  has  not  resulted  in  brotherly  relations  in  the 
village,  and  Kanigin  has  chafed  under  the  authority  of 
the  Leader.  Before  the  year  was  out  he  felt  it  necessary 
to  withdraw  from  membership  in  the  community,  but 
found  that  he  had  to  face  much  unpleasantness.  He  was 
of  course  told  that  he  was  4  no  Doukhobdr,’  and  his 
request  to  have  his  property  (or  enough  of  it  to  enable 


✓ 


266  A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

him  to  restart  with)  returned,  was  met  by  a  refusal.  They 
gave  him  only  one  horse  and  one  cow,  a  small  proportion 
of  what  he  had  contributed  a  year  before  and  not  sufficient 
for  him  to  get  on  with.  He  had  worked  on  the  land  all 
summer,  yet  his  supplies  of  flour  from  the  communal  store 
were  stopped  ;  and  it  became  difficult  for  him  to  get  in 
firewood,  to  plough,  or  even  to  fetch  flour  and  other 
supplies  from  the  nearest  town.  Kamgin  is  said  to  be  44  a 
reliable  man,  who  is  really  sacrificing  much  for  conscientious 
reasons.  He  feels  keenly  the  disharmony  set  up  by  the 
adoption  of  communism  in  the  village,  and  he  cannot 
stand,  or  rather  bow,  to  Verigin’s  authority.  As  he 
expresses  it,  4 1  cannot  say  Boss  ! 1 11 

Kanigin  himself  writes  me,  after  alluding  to  the 
persecution  the  Doukhobdrs  suffered  in  the  Caucasus — 

44  Good  or  bad,  that  has  all  passed  ;  but  I  think 
perhaps  they  bore  oppression  from  the  Government  because 
they  were  too  weak  to  resist,  and  that  if  the  Doukhobdrs 
had  been  stronger  than  the  Government,  they  would  have 
treated  the  Government  worse  than  it  treated  them. 

44  The  Doukhobdrs  have  arranged  a  Commune,  called 
the  Christian  Commune  of  Universal  Brotherhood,  and 
this  whole  year  they  have  worshipped  it  just  as  the  priests 
worship  some  holy  image ;  and  they  do  not  see  that  it  is 
nourished  by  anger,  by  defrauding  one  another,  by  slander, 
and  by  violence.  The  fraudulent  violence  we  have  to 
submit  to  is,  that  though  they  say  4  let  those  join  who 
wish  to,  and  let  those  remain  outside  who  like,’  they  go 
on  to  add,  4  only  let  each  one  understand  that  he  who 
does  not  live  in  community  must  not  be  called  a  Dou- 
khobor,  and  will  not  have  freedom  from  military  service. 
His  children  will  be  taken  as  soldiers,  and  he  shall  have 
no  land  among  the  Doukhobdrs.’” 


A 


COMMUNISM 


267 


In  June  1903  a  friend  wrote  me — 

“  There  is  a  great  deaf  of  dissatisfaction  about  the 
new  state  of  affairs  by  which  every  village  has  to  be 
communist.  Some  are  dissatisfied  from  selfish  motives, 
probably ;  but  others,  because  they  see  that  it  spells 
despotism.  These  latter  point  out  that  always  with  them 
communism  has  been  accompanied  by  despotism.  When 
they  were  a  communist  organization  at  Milky  Waters,  it 
was  under  the  iron  rule  of  Kapoustin.  After  his  death, 
everything  went  to  pieces  because  of  the  weakness  and 
vices  of  succeeding  Leaders,  and  outrages  occurred  that 
resulted  in  the  removal  of  the  sect  to  the  Caucasus.  Last 
Sunday,  talking  of  those  times,  a  Doukhobbr,  who  is  a 
dissatisfied  individualist,  admitted  that  the  expulsion  from 
the  Milky  Waters  was  the  result  of  misdoings  among 
them.  But  the  poor  individualists — who  have  my  entire 
sympathy,  whether  they  be  selfish  or  freedom-loving  (free¬ 
dom,  even  if  it  be  freedom  to  be  selfish,  is  more  valuable 
than  imposed  communism) — are  quite  helpless.  Verigin 
has  arranged  things  very  cleverly,  and  the  way  out  is  so 
difficult  that  few  are  likely  to  attempt  it. 

“  Everything  is  more  and  more  centralized.  .  .  .  The 
Swan  River  men  have  been  told  to  go  out  to  work  at  once, 
the  Leader  being  displeased  that  they  have  not  already 
gone.  They  are  to  make  every  effort  to  earn  much  money, 
and  on  their  return  full  accounts  of  their  work  and  pay 
are  to  be  rendered  to  the  Leader.11 

One  of  the  objectionable  methods  adopted  to  impose 
communism  on  unwilling  members  is  the  separation, 
when  possible,  of  dissentient  husbands  from  their  wives 
(in  case  the  husband  secedes  and  the  wife  can  be  induced 
to  remain  in  the  community). 

The  story  of  Doukhobor  communism  is  an  unfinished 


268 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


one.  It  is  worth  attention  as  being  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  economic  and  social  experiments  now  proceed¬ 
ing  within  the  confines  of  the  British  Empire. 

It  would  be  rash  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  what  the 
next  development  among  the  Doukhobors  will  be,  but  I 
venture  to  summarize  a  few  conclusions  to  which  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  matter  has  brought  me. 

First. — For  a  poor  and  homogeneous  group  of  people, 
under  efficient  and  strong  leadership,  communism  offers 
great  advantages  by  enabling  them  to  secure  food,  cloth¬ 
ing,  housing  and  fuel  for  all  (especially  for  the  old  people, 
the  children,  and  the  sick),  much  more  easily  than  can  be 
accomplished  where  each  family  is  economically  isolated. 

Second. — This  result  can  hardly  be  permanently 
attained  without  some  repression  of  the  mental  and  moral 
development  of  the  people.  The  dominance  of  the  Leader 
(or,  in  default  of  a  Leader,  the  rigidity  of  tribal  or  sec¬ 
tarian  customs)  seems  so  essential  to  the  existence  and 
permanence  of  such  a  group,  that  loyalty  and  devotion  to 
him  (or  to  them),  acceptance  of  his  ideas,  and  blindness  to 
his  failings,  grow  to  an  excessive  extent  and  ultimately  pro¬ 
duce  a  revolt  in  men  of  independent  minds.  (The  utility  of 
loyalty  to  the  Leader  in  primitive  communes  helps  us  to 
understand,  as  atavism,  those  displays  of  enthusiastic 
devotion  to  kings,  queens,  and  princes  which  are  of  quite 
common  occurrence  even  among  ourselves,  whose  economic 
and  social  welfare  no  longer  depends  on  the  titular  chief 
of  the  state.) 

Third. — It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  cause  of 
the  gradual  supersession  of  communal  property  by  private 
property  all  the  world  over  lies  solely,  or  chiefly,  in 
selfishness  ;  or  that  the  one  system  always  deserves  a  moral 
preference  over  the  other.  It  is  really  a  question  of  which 


COMMUNISM 


269 


system  is  better  suited  to  a  given  folk  at  a  given  time  and 
place.  As  soon  as  men  can  afford  to  do  so,  they  are  likely 
to  try  to  free  themselves  from  the  yoke  of  communism, 
even  at  considerable  economic  loss.  The  greater  freedom 
afforded  by  individualism  for  personal  experiments,  justifies 
the  sacrifice  ;  though  the  increasing  evils  of  commercial 
competition  again,  in  their  turn,  will  evoke  a  revolt  based 
partly  on  selfish  and  partly  on  moral  grounds. 

Fourth. — This  view  is  far  from  presenting  any  excuse 
for  a  selfish  use  of  property.  It  remains  the  moral  duty 
of  every  strong  and  capable  person  (whether  in  individualist 
or  communist  society)  to  render  to  society  service  exceed¬ 
ing  the  value  of  what  he  or  she  consumes.  For,  if  the 
strong  and  capable  fail  to  do  this,  the  burden  of  doing 
too  heavy  a  share  in  proportion  to  their  ability  must 
necessarily  fall  on  those  weaker  and  less  capable.  It  is 
the  neglect  of  this  plain  duty  (and  the  fact  that  the 
complexity  of  modern  society  hides  from  men’s  perception 
the  evils  caused  by  sloth  and  luxury  among  the  rich)  that 
evokes  those  attacks  on  private  property,  which  are  being 
formulated  ever  more  and  more  trenchantly  by  moralists 
and  thinkers,  and  echoed  more  and  more  fiercely  by 
socialists  and  anarchists. 


CHAPTER  IX 


A  LETTER  FROM  TOLSTOY  TO 
THE  CANADIAN  DOUKHOBORS 

Dear  Brothers  and  Sisters, 

All  of  us  who  profess,  and  wish  our  lives  to  accord 
with,  the  Christian  teaching,  ought  to  help  one  another. 
And  the  most  needful  help  is — to  point  out  one  to  another 
the  sins  and  temptations  into  which  we  fall  unawares. 

And  therefore,  asking  my  brethren  to  help  me  against 
those  sins  and  temptations  which  I  overlook,  I  consider  it 
my  duty  to  point  out  to  you,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  a 
temptation  to  which,  as  I  hear,  some  of  you  are  yielding. 

You  suffered  and  were  exiled,  and  are  still  suffering 
want,  because  you  wished,  not  in  words  but  in  deeds,  to 
lead  a  Christian  life.  You  refused  to  do  any  violence  to 
your  neighbours,  to  take  oaths,  to  serve  as  police  or 
soldiers ;  and  you  even  burnt  your  own  weapons  lest  you 
should  be  tempted  to  use  them  in  self-defence ;  and  in 
spite  of  all  persecutions  you  remained  true  to  the  Christian 
teaching.  Your  deeds  became  known,  and  the  enemies  of 
the  Christian  teaching  were  troubled  when  they  heard  of 
them,  and  they  first  arrested  and  transported  you,  and 
then  exiled  you  from  Russia — seeking  as  much  as  possible 
to  prevent  your  example  from  becoming  known.  Those 

who  accept  the  Christian  teaching  were  glad  and  triumphed ; 

270 


A  LETTER  FROM  TOLSTOY 


271 


and  they  loved  and  praised  you,  and  tried  to  follow  in 
your  footsteps.  Your  deeds  helped  much  to  destroy  the 
dominion  of  evil,  and  to  confirm  men  in  Christian  truth. 

Now,  however,  I  learn  by  letters  from  our  friends,  that 
the  life  of  many  of  you  in  Canada  is  such  that  the  friends 
of  the  Christian  teaching  are  confounded,  and  its  enemies 
rejoice  and  triumph.  “See  now — these  are  your  Dou- 
khobors  !  ”  say  the  enemies  of  Christianity.  “  As  soon  as 
they  reach  Canada,  a  free  country,  they  begin  to  live 
like  other  people,  and  to  gather  property  each  for  him¬ 
self  ;  and  not  only  do  they  not  share  each  with  his 
brethren,  but  each  tries  to  seize  as  much  as  possible  for 
himself.  So  that,  evidently,  all  they  did  before  was  only 
done  at  their  Leaders’  order,  and  without  their  well  know¬ 
ing  why  they  did  it.” 

Dear  brothers  and  sisters,  I  know  and  understand  the 
difficulty  of  your  position  in  a  foreign  country,  among 
strangers  who  give  no  one  anything  freely,  and  I  know 
how  terrible  it  is  to  think  that  those  near  to  one,  and  the 
weak  ones  of  one’s  own  family,  may  remain  destitute  and 
lacking  support.  I  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  live  in 
community,  and  how  hard  it  is  to  work  for  others  who 
are  not  industrious,  and  who  consume  what  they  do  not 
earn.  All  this  I  know  ;  but  1  know  also  that  if  you  wish 
to  continue  to  live  a  Christian  life,  and  do  not  wish  to 
disavow  all  for  the  sake  of  which  you  suffered  and  were 
exiled  from  your  fatherland,  then  you  must  not  live  as  the 
world  lives,  each  accumulating  property  separately  for 
himself  and  his  own  family,  and  withholding  it  from 
others.  It  only  seems  as  if  it  were  possible  to  be  a 
Christian  and  yet  to  have  property  and  withhold  it  from 
others,  but,  really,  this  is  impossible.  If  once  such  a 
thing  be  admitted,  very  soon  nothing  of  Christianity  will 


m 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


be  left  except  empty  words — and  words,  alas  !  that  will 
be  insincere  and  hypocritical.  Christ  has  said  that  one 
cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon ;  one  of  the  two — either 
gather  for  yourself  property,  or  live  for  God.  At  first 
it  seems  as  if  there  were  no  contradiction  between  the  re¬ 
nunciation  of  violence  and  refusal  of  military  service  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  recognition  of  private  property  on 
the  other.  “  We,  Christians,  do  not  bow  down  before 
external  gods ;  do  not  take  oaths ;  do  not  go  to  law ;  do 
not  kill,”  say  many  among  us,  u  and  when,  by  our  own 
labour  we  obtain  property  (not  for  our  enrichment,  but  to 
secure  those  near  to  us),  we  not  only  do  not  transgress 
the  teaching  of  Christ,  but  we  even  obey  it  if  from  our 
superfluity  we  help  the  destitute.”  But  this  is  not  true. 
In  reality,  property  means — that  what  I  consider  mine, 
I  not  only  will  not  give  to  whoever  wishes  to  take  it,  but 
will  defend  from  him.  And  to  defend  from  another  what 
I  consider  mine  is  only  possible  by  violence ;  that  is  (in 
case  of  need)  by  a  struggle,  a  fight,  or  even  by  murder. 
Were  it  not  for  this  violence,  and  these  murders,  no  one 
would  be  able  to  hold  property. 

If  we  do  retain  property  without  using  violence,  this 
is  only  possible  because  our  property  is  defended  by  the 
threat  of  violence,  and  by  actual  violence  and  murder, 
perpetrated  upon  those  around  us. 

If  we  do  not  defend  our  property  and  yet  it  is  not 
taken  from  us,  this  occurs  only  because  people  think  that 
we,  like  others,  shall  defend  it. 

Therefore,  to  acknowledge  property  is  to  acknowledge 
violence  and  murder ;  and  if  you  acknowledge  property, 
which  is  only  maintainable  by  soldiers  and  police,  there 
was  no  need  for  you  to  refuse  military  or  police  service. 
Those  who  perform  military  and  police  service  and  make 


A  LETTER  FROM  TOLSTOY 


273 


use  of  property,  act  better  than  those  who  refuse  to  be 
soldiers  or  policemen  but  yet  wish  to  enjoy  property. 
Such  men  wish,  without  serving,  to  make  use  of  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  others  for  their  own  advantage.  The  Christian 
teaching  cannot  be  taken  piecemeal :  it  is  all  or  nothing. 
It  is  inseparably  united  into  one  whole.  If  a  man 
acknowledges  himself  to  be  a  son  of  God,  from  that 
acknowledgment  flows  the  love  of  his  neighbour ;  and 
from  love  of  his  neighbour  flow,  equally,  the  repudiation 
of  violence,  of  oaths,  of  state  service,  and  of  property. 

Moreover,  partiality  to  property  is  in  itself  a  snare, 
and  Christ  shows  that  it  is  so.  He  says  that  man  should 
not  take  care  for  the  morrow,  not  because  this  will  be 
meritorious,  or  because  God  so  commands,  but  because 
such  care  leads  to  nothing — is  impossible ;  and  he  who  so 
cares  will  commit  a  folly  by  trying  to  do  what  is  im¬ 
possible.  Man  cannot  secure  himself :  first,  because  he  is 
mortal  (as  is  shown  in  the  Gospel  parable  of  the  rich  man 
who  built  barns),  and,  secondly,  because  one  can  never 
find  the  limit  of  security  required.  For  how  long  a 
period  should  one  secure  oneself  ?  For  a  month  ?  for 
a  year  ?  for  ten  years  ?  or  for  fifty  ?  Should  one  secure 
only  oneself?  or  one's  children?  and  one's  grand¬ 
children  ?  And  to  what  extent  ?  With  food  ?  Or  also 
with  clothing?  And  lodging?  And  with  what  sort  of 
food,  and  what  lodging  ?  He  who  begins  to  secure  him¬ 
self  will  never  reach  the  end  of  the  process,  and  will  but 
waste  his  life  in  vain,  as  it  is  said  :  “  He  that  will  save 
his  life  shall  lose  it."  Do  we  not  see  rich  men  living 
miserably,  and  poor  men  living  joyfully  ?  Man,  as  Christ 
said,  need  not  secure  himself.  Like  the  birds  of  the  air 
and  the  flowers  of  the  field,  he  is  secured,  once  for  all,  by 
God. 

T 


274 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


64  Yes,  but  if  so,  and  if  people  do  not  work,  do  not 
plough  or  sow — all  will  die  of  hunger,”  is  what  is  usually 
said  by  those  who  do  not  understand  (or  do  not  wish  to 
understand)  Christ’s  teaching  in  its  full,  true  meaning. 
But,  really,  this  is  only  an  excuse.  Christ  does  not  forbid 
man  to  work,  and  not  only  does  not  advise  idleness,  but 
on  the  contrary  commands  us  always  to  work  ;  only,  not 
for  ourselves,  but  for  others.  It  is  said  :  the  son  of  man 
came  not  to  be  served,  but  that  he  might  serve  others ; 
and  the  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  keep.  Man  must  work 
as  much  as  possible,  only  he  must  not  keep  things  for 
himself,  nor  consider  as  his  what  he  has  produced ;  but 
must  give  it  to  others. 

In  order  most  surely  to  secure  himself,  man  has  only 
one  means,  and  this  means  is  the  very  one  taught  by 
Christ :  to  work  as  much  as  possible,  and  content  himself 
with  as  little  as  possible.  The  man  who  does  this  will 
everywhere  and  always  be  secure. 

The  Christian  teaching  cannot  be  taken  piecemeal : 
one  bit  taken  and  another  left.  If  people,  accepting 
Christ’s  teaching,  have  repudiated  violence,  law-courts, 
and  wars,  then  they  must  also  repudiate  property.  For 
violence  and  law-courts  are  only  wanted  to  retain  property. 
If  people  are  to  retain  property,  then  they  need  violence 
and  law-courts,  and  all  the  arrangements  of  this  world. 

The  temptation  of  property  is  the  most  subtle  of  all 
temptations ;  the  evil  of  it  is  very  cunningly  hidden  from 
us  ;  and  that  is  why  so  many  Christians  have  stumbled 
over  it. 

And  so,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  in  arranging  your 
life  in  a  foreign  land  after  being  exiled  from  your  father- 
land  for  fidelity  to  the  Christian  teaching,  I  see  clearly 
that  it  is  in  all  respects  better  for  you  to  live  a  Christian 


A  LETTER  FROM  TOLSTOY 


275 


life  than  to  swerve  from  it  and  begin  to  live  worldly  lives. 
It  is  more  advantageous  to  live  and  work  in  common,  with 
all  those  who  wish  to  live  the  same  life  as  you  do,  than 
for  each  to  live  separately,  collecting  only  or  himself  and 
for  his  own  family,  and  not  sharing  with  others.  It  is 
more  advantageous  to  live  so  :  first,  because  you  will  not 
waste  your  strength  storing  up  for  the  future  an  insurance 
for  yourself  and  your  family,  which  it  is  impossible  for 
mortal  man  really  to  obtain ;  secondly,  because  you  will 
not  each  spend  his  strength  in  striving  to  withhold  property 
from  his  neighbours  ;  and  thirdly,  because  you  will  produce 
and  obtain  incomparably  more  by  working  in  common  than 
you  would  do  by  each  working  separately ;  fourthly,  because, 
living  communally,  you  will  spend  less  on  yourselves  than 
if  each  lived  separately  ;  fifthly,  because,  living  a  Christian 
life,  you  will  evoke  among  those  who  live  around  you,  not 
hatred  and  enmity,  but  love,  respect,  and  perhaps  an 
imitation  of  your  life;  and  sixthly,  because  you  will  not 
destroy  the  work  you  have  begun,  and  by  which  you  have 
shamed  the  enemies  and  gladdened  the  friends  of  Christ. 
Above  all,  it  is  more  advantageous  for  you  to  live  a 
Christian  life,  because,  so  living,  you  will  know  that  you 
are  fulfilling  the  will  of  Him  who  sent  you  into  the 
world. 

I  know  it  is  difficult  to  have  nothing  of  one’s  own ; 
difficult  to  be  ready  to  yield  what  one  has  and  what  one 
needs  for  one’s  family,  to  the  first  man  who  asks  it ;  hard 
to  submit  to  your  chosen  leaders  when  it  seems  as  if  their 
directions  were  faulty ;  hard  to  put  up  with  one  another’s 
faults ;  hard  to  refrain  from  luxurious  habits  :  from  meat, 
tobacco,  and  intoxicants.  I  know  that  all  this  seems 
difficult.  But,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  we  are  alive 
to-day  and  to-morrow  shall  go  to  Him  who  sent  us  into 


276 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


this  world  to  do  His  work.  Is  it  worth  while,  for  the  sake 
of  calling  things  ours  and  dealing  with  them  in  our  own 
way,  for  the  sake  of  a  few  sacks  of  flour,  a  few  dollars,  or 
coats,  a  pair  of  oxen — or  to  hinder  some  one  who  has  not 
worked  from  sharing  what  we  have  earned,  or  on  account 
of  some  offensive  word,  or  from  pride,  or  for  the  sake  of 
some'dainty  food — to  oppose  Him  who  has  sent  us  into  this 
world,  and  not  to  do  what  He  wants  of  us,  and  what  we 
can  only  do  during  this  lifetime  of  ours  ?  And  what  He 
wishes  of  us  is  not  much :  only  that  we  should  not  do  to 
others  what  we  do  not  wish  done  to  us.  And  He  wishes 
this  not  for  Himself,  but  for  our  sakes  ;  because — if  we  did 
but  agree  to  do  it — life  on  this  earth  would  be  as  good  for 
all  of  us  as  it  can  possibly  be.  And,  even  now,  though  all 
the  world  lived  contrary  to  His  will,  yet  for  each  separate 
individual,  who  has  understood  what  he  was  sent  here  for, 
there  is  no  advantage  in  doing  anything  but  that. 

To  me,  an  old  man  at  the  furthest  limit  of  life  and 
watching  from  aside,  all  this  is  quite  plain ;  but  you,  also, 
dear  brothers  and  sisters,  if  you  will  but  think  quietly 
(throwing  off  for  awhile  the  temptations  of  the  world),  you, 
too,  will  see  clearly  that  each  man  will  lose  nothing,  but 
can  only  gain  in  all  respects,  by  living  not  for  himself,  but 
by  living  to  fulfil  God’s  will.  It  is  said  :  “  Seek  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  and  its  righteousness,  and  all  other  things  shall 
be  added  unto  you.”  Each  man  can  test  whether  that  is 
true.  You  have  made  the  trial  and  know  it  to  be  true. 
The  only  other  plan  is  to  seek  for  the  other  things — for 
property  and  worldly  pleasures — and,  failing  to  secure  them, 
to  lose  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  also. 

And  therefore,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  hold  fast  to 
the  life  you  have  commenced,  or  you  will  lose  what  you 
have,  and  will  not  find  what  you  seek.  He  who  has  sent 


A  LETTER  FROM  TOLSTOY 


277 


us  into  life  knows  what  we  need  better  than  we  do  ;  and 
He  has  so  arranged  things  in  advance,  that  man  receives 
the  greatest  blessing  in  this  life  and  in  the  next,  only  by 
fulfilling  not  his  own  will  but  God’s. 

As  to  the  detailed  arrangements  of  your  communal 
life,  I  dare  not  advise  you — knowing  that  you,  and  espe¬ 
cially  your  Elders,  are  experienced  and  wise  in  this  matter. 
I  only  know  that  all  will  be  well  if  each  of  you  but 
remembers  that  he  did  not  come  into  this  world  by  his 
own  will,  but  by  the  will  of  God,  who  sent  him  into  this 
short  life  to  do  His  will.  And  His  will  is  expressed  in 
the  command  to  love.  And  to  collect  property  separately 
for  one’s  self  and  to  withhold  it  from  others — is  to  act  con¬ 
trary  to  the  will  of  God  and  to  His  commandments. 

Farewell. 

Your  loving  brother, 

Leo  Tolstoy. 


February  27  (n.s.)  1900. 


CHAPTER  X 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 

The  close  connection  existing  between  Tolstoy’s  views  and 
those  professed  by  the  Doukhobors  to-day,  has  already 
been  indicated ;  and  we  shall  hardly  be  going  beyond  the 
proper  limits  of  this  work  by  devoting  the  present 
chapter  to  a  consideration  of  Tolstoy’s  remarkable  letter. 
That  letter  is  definite,  precise,  and  explicit,  and  is  com¬ 
paratively  easy  to  discuss ;  whereas  the  ever  shifting 
opinions  expressed  by  different  members  of  the  Dou- 
khobdr  sect  are  so  indefinite  as  not  to  be  readily  dealt 
with.  But  as  Tolstoy’s  teaching  lies  at  the  root  of  recent 
Doukhobor  developments,  when  we  have  discussed  that 
teaching  we  shall  also  be  in  a  better  position  to  form  an 
opinion  of  those  developments. 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  Peter  Verigin,*  Tolstoy  says  that 
an  advantage  the  printed  word  has  over  vocal  communi¬ 
cation  is  that  “  talkers  (for  instance,  advocates)  having  a 
gift  of  words,  sway  men  not  by  their  reasonableness,  but 
by  their  mastery  of  oratorical  art,  which  is  not  the  case 
with  books.”  But  I  think  no  one  who  has  ever  been 
under  the  spell  of  Tolstoy’s  ability  to  put  a  moral  appeal 
over-impressively  in  books  will  be  quite  willing  to  endorse 
that  saying.  There  is  something  in  his  way  of  stating  his 

*  In  Essays  and  Letters  by  Tolstoy. 

278 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


279 


case  which  is  quite  comparable  to  the  orator's  art.  When 
Tolstoy  states  that  a  thing  is  right  or  wrong,  calls  on  us 
not  to  lower  the  standard  of  the  ideal,  quotes  the  Gospel 
in  support  of  his  thesis,  and  proceeds  to  point  out  how 
miserable  is  the  result  of  wilfully  opposing  God — it 
becomes  enormously  difficult  to  think  for  one’s  self  on  the 
matter,  or  to  venture  to  challenge  his  assumption  and  ask 
whether  it  is  true  that  what  Tolstoy  declares  to  be  right 
is  right,  and  that  what  he  declares  to  be  wrong  is  wrong. 

In  reading  Tolstoy’s  didactic  works  one  is  impressed  by 
the  importance  of  the  topics  he  treats  of,  the  frankness  of 
his  statements,  the  boldness  of  his  speculations,  and  his 
amazing  power  of  clear  and  popular  exposition.  My 
admiration  for  Tolstoy  and  appreciation  of  his  work  is  so 
great  that,  for  years,  I  instinctively  slurred  over  points  I 
was  unable  to  agree  with,  and  was  fond  of  saying  that, 
after  all,  the  parts  of  a  man’s  teaching  most  important  to 
one  are  those  our  reason  and  conscience  fully  accept  and 
confirm. 

Practical  experience,  however  (in  connection  both  with 
the  Purleigh  Colony  and  the  Doukhobor  migration), 
ultimately  obliged  me  to  admit  that  there  are  some 
aspects  of  Tolstoy’s  teaching  which  are  not  morally  com¬ 
mendable,  and  which  it  is  a  duty  to  challenge.  I 
purposely  use  the  words  44  not  morally  commendable,” 
because  many  people  hold  the  curious  opinion  that 
morally  Tolstoy’s  maxims  are  admirable,  only  they  are 
too  good  for  man  as  he  is  now  constituted,  and  must  there¬ 
fore  be  ignored  in  our  generation  and  adopted  a  fewr 
thousand  years  hence,  when  people  are  different  from 
ourselves. 

From  this  view  I  dissent.  If  Tolstoy’s  maxims  are 
sound,  I  think  more  good  than  harm  should  result  from 


280 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


adopting  them  now  ;  and  if  it  is  inadvisable  to  do  so,  then 
I  do  not  know  how  we  are  to  test  their  validity ;  for  the 
final  test  of  moral  principles  for  us  is  whether  they  really 
tend  to  forward,  or  to  hinder,  the  cause  of  good  will 
among  men  as  we  know  them,  and  not  among  men  as  we 
think  they  may  be  at  some  future  period. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  many  Tolstoyans  insist  most 
strenuously  on  just  those  parts  of  Tolstoy's  teaching  which 
are  most  questionable.  For  instance,  on  his  statement 
that  the  use  of  physical  force  to  restrain  one's  fellow-man 
is  always  wrong ;  that  the  possession  of  private  property 
is  wrong ;  that  to  work  for  a  landowner,  or  hire  a  piece  of 
land,  is  wrong ;  and  that  to  pay  any  rate  or  tax  to  a 
Government,  or  to  serve  any  Government  (imperial, 
republican,  or  municipal)  as  a:  policeman,  or  even  as  a 
civil  servant,  is  wrong. 

Experience,  both  within  the  Tolstoy  movement  and 
outside  it,  shows  that  there  is  a  flaw  somewhere  in  all 
this.  I  have  seen  cases  in  which  people  abandoned  their 
property  without  abandoning  their  selfishness  ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  have  known  cases  in  which  men  re¬ 
tained  control  of  property  not  selfishly,  but  in  order  to 
administer  it  conscientiously  as  a  trust  for  the  good  oi 
others. 

I  do  not  wish  to  underrate  the  strength  of  the  case 
Tolstoy  makes  out.  It  is  one  that  cannot  be  ignored, 
and  it  includes  things  that  are  true  and  deserve  to  be 
widely  recognized. 

Governments  exist  to  protect  life  and  property ;  yet 
the  greatest  destruction  of  life  and  property  to-day  is 
perpetrated  by  Governments,  in  war,  and  in  maintaining 
themselves.  Tolstoy  challenges  the  right  of  Governments 
to  kill  men,  or  to  deprive  them  of  liberty,  and  he  asks  : 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


281 


How  can  people,  by  calling  themselves  a  Government, 
make  actions  moral  which  would  admittedly  be  immoral 
if  done  not  by  a  Government,  but  by  some  one  else  ? 
He  says  the  Gospels  condemn  private  property  and  the 
use  of  force  by  man  to  restrain  his  fellow-man  ;  and  he 
relies  not  merely  on  certain  texts,  but  on  the  whole 
sequence  of  the  Gospel  narrative,  which,  he  says,  bears 
out  those  texts.  The  “  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ”  mentions 
property  as  being  held  in  common  by  the  early  Christians. 
The  Fathers  of  the  Church  have  many  passages  coinciding 
with  Tolstoy’s  views  on  war  and  property.  The  Fran¬ 
ciscan  movement  stood  for  the  rejection  of  property  (and 
the  ideas  of  St.  Francis  find  appreciative  echo  in  Protestant 
countries  to-day,  as  the  success  of  Sabatier’s  work  shows)  ; 
and  W.  L.  Garrison  in  America,  in  1838,  drew  up  a 
“  Declaration  of  Non-Resistance  ”  which  Tolstoy  himself 
might  have  written,  so  closely  does  it  fit  the  principles 
he  formulated  independently,  some  forty  years  later. 

It  would  be  easy  to  give  many  other  instances  plainly 
showing  that  for  more  than  two  thousand  years  these  same 
ideas  have  reappeared  again  and  again,  propounded  by 
good  men,  influencing  large  movements,  and  passing 
unrefuted — except  by  the  hard  test  of  experience. 

Once  the  first  axiom  (that  physical  force  should  never 
be  used  between  man  and  man)  is  accepted,  Tolstoy’s 
whole  scheme  becomes  consistent  and  logically  irrefutable  ; 
there  is  no  subsequent  flaw  in  his  argument  against 
Government,  law-courts,  and  property. 

The  evils  of  the  present  system  of  imperialism,  mili¬ 
tarism,  and  commercial  competition,  with  its  contrasts  of 
wealth  and  poverty,  are,  moreover,  becoming  so  apparent, 
and  men’s  consciences  are  so  moved  to  revolt,  that,  even 
had  Tolstoy  never  spoken,  thoughts  such  as  his  would 


282 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


assuredly  have  found  expression.  They  stand  recorded  in 
history,  and  never  quite  die  out  of  men’s  minds,  though 
in  modern  times  they  have  never  before  received  such 
emphatic,  systematic,  or  world-wide  proclamation  as 
Tolstoy  has  given  them.  Where,  then,  is  the  weak  point 
in  his  position  ?  Why  do  these  principles  of  non- 
resistance  and  repudiation  of  property  not  stand  the 
test  of  experience,  but  always  retire  into  the  background 
after  each  fresh  trial  ?  What  became  of  the  communism 
of  the  early  Church  ?  What  did  Wyclif  and  his  con¬ 
temporaries  think  of  the  Franciscan  movement  ?  Why 
did  W.  L.  Garrison  support  the  re-election  of  President 
Lincoln,  who  was  waging  a  great  war?  And  why  do 
44  Tolstoy  Colonies  ”  always  fail  ?  Why,  in  a  word,  is 
experience  against  a  theory  that  is  so  plausible  and 
appeals  so  strongly  to  the  hearts  of  men  ? 

Here  let  us  remove  one  stumbling-block  from  our 
path.  We  want  to  use  our  minds  upon  a  perplexing 
problem,  but  almost  before  we  have  begun  to  think  about 
it,  we  are  in  danger  of  being  crushed  by  authority. 
Jesus,  we  are  told,  said  so-and-so,  and  by  these  words  he 
meant  so-and-so ;  the  question  is  therefore  settled  in 
advance,  and  settled  beyond  all  appeal.  For  a  Catholic 
the  theory  of  apostolic  succession  and  the  claims  of  the 
Catholic  Church  are  established  by  Christ’s  own  words, 
44  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church.”  For  a  Salva¬ 
tionist,  certain  sentences  in  certain  letters  of  Paul’s,  and 
certain  explanations  of  those  given  by  Augustine  and 
Calvin,  establish  the  44  scheme  of  salvation.”  In  a  similar 
way  for  the  Tolstoyan  the  words,  44  Resist  not  him  that  i 
evil ;  but  whosoever  smiteth  thee  on  thy  right  cheek, 
turn  to  him  the  other  also,”  coupled  with  certain 
explanations  given  by  Tolstoy,  establish  the  law  of 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


283 


non-resistance  beyond  appeal  and  in  spite  of  common 
sense  and  of  all  experience. 

I  am,  however,  not  willing  to  abandon  the  investiga¬ 
tion  of  a  subject  at  the  very  outset,  but  instead  of 
plunging  into  disputes  as  to  the  dates,  authorship,  or 
authority  of  the  Gospels,  or  as  to  the  correct  Greek  text, 
or  as  to  the  best  translation  or  real  meaning  of  certain 
words,  or,  even,  as  to  the  real  drift  and  tendency  of 
Christ’s  whole  teaching  and  the  comparative  emphasis  to 
be  laid  on  this  or  that  part  of  it  (disputes  needing  many 
volumes  and  not  likely  to  terminate  in  our  lifetime),  I 
prefer  to  deal  with  the  subject  in  hand,  and  will  give  a 
simple  reason  for  considering  this  problem  of  force  and 
property  with  our  own  minds. 

I  am  ready  to  admit  that  Tolstoy’s  views  on  Govern¬ 
ment  and  property  are  more  or  less  distinctly  discernible 
in  the  Gospels  (though  they  are  not  there  pushed  to  the 
front,  or  weighted  with  such  corollaries  as  he  deduces). 
For  the  sake  of  argument  I  will  even  go  much  further, 
and  will  suppose  that  Tolstoy’s  opinion  is  absolutely 
correct,  and  that  the  whole  authority  of  the  Gospel  is 
opposed  to  the  opinion  which  to  you  or  to  me  may 
appear  reasonable.  But  I  plead  that  even  in  that  case 
we  must  still  be  allowed  to  believe  and  say  what  seems 
to  us  reasonable,  and  to  disbelieve  what  seems  to  us 
unreasonable. 

If  a  cabbage  from  a  certain  seed,  under  certain 
conditions,  after  a  certain  number  of  days’  growth,  ought 
to  be  ten,  but  is  actually  only  eight  inches  high,  still 
it  is  better  to  let  it  continue  to  grow  from  its  own  roots 
than  to  cut  it  off,  perch  it  on  a  stick,  and  make  it  at 
once  ten  inches  high.  For  when  you  have  severed  it  from 
its  own  roots  it  never  can  grow  any  more.  Similarly, 


284 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


each  man  should  use  his  own  reason  and  conscience;  not 
because  his  mind  is  necessarily  better  than  any  one  else’s, 
but  because  it  is  his  own.  There  is  nothing  presump¬ 
tuous  in  breathing  with  one’s  own  lungs,  even  though  they 
be  not  as  powerful  as  other  people’s ;  nor  is  it  presump¬ 
tuous  to  think  with  one’s  own  head,  seeing  that  it  is  the 
only  head  one  can  think  with. 

Venturing,  then,  undeterred  by  authority,  to  face  this 
problem,  I  will  try  to  put  my  case  so  clearly  that  if  I  am 
in  error  some  one  may  correct  me  and  bring  us  nearer  to 
the  true  solution. 

In  the  letter  contained  in  the  last  chapter  Tolstoy 
gives  an  admirably  concise  and  precise  summary  of  his 
anti-property  and  anti-force  opinions,  and  urges  their 
immediate  adoption  by  the  Doukhobors. 

He  gives,  in  that  letter,  an  excellent  maxim  of  economic 
morality,  namely,  that  each  man  should  “  work  as  much 
as  possible,  and  content  himself  with  as  little  as  possible.” 
In  a  world  in  which  want  exists,  the  more  this  saying  is 
considered  the  more  clearly  its  value  will  be  appreciated. 
But  why  need  Tolstoy  assume  that  the  institution  of 
private  property  is  immoral,  and  that  communal  property 
is  moral  ?  Whence  can  the  Doukhobors  obtain  a  moral 
right  to  withhold  their  land  from  other  settlers  who 
would  like  to  take  it  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that  if  private 
property  represents  the  selfishness  of  an  individual,  com¬ 
munal  property  represents  the  selfishness  of  a  clan  ? 
And  that  (to  use  Tolstoy’s  words)  the  only  possibility  of 
defending  what  they  consider  theirs,  is  “  by  violence ;  that 
is  (in  case  of  need)  by  a  struggle,  a  fight,  or  even  by 
murder.”  “  To  acknowledge  property  is  to  acknowledge 
violence  and  murder.  .  .  .  Those  who  perform  military 
and  police  service,  and  make  use  of  property,  act  better 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


285 


than  those  who  refuse  to  be  soldiers  or  policemen,  but 
yet  wish  to  enjoy  property.  .  .  .  The  Christian  teaching 
cannot  be  taken  piecemeal :  it  is  all  or  nothing.'1 

It  follows  from  Tolstoy's  axioms,  that  if  Verigin, 
entrusted  with  the  Doukhobdrs1  earnings,  goes  to  Winni¬ 
peg  to  pay  off  their  debts  and  to  buy  goods  for  the 
coming  season,  and  if  he  is  there  met  by  some  one  who 
asks  for  the  money  in  order  to  gamble  on  the  stock- 
exchange,  it  will  be  Verigin's  moral  duty  to  hand  it  over ; 
for  Christ  said  :  “  give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee  ;  "  and, 
according  to  Tolstoy,  “  the  Christian  teaching  is  all  or 
nothing  !  "  Moreover,  “  if  our  property  is  not  taken  from 
us,  this  occurs  only  because  people  think  that  we,  like 
others,  shall  defend  it.  Therefore  to  acknowledge  property 
is  to  acknowledge  violence  and  murder."  It  follows  even 
more  definitely  from  the  Tolstoyan  law,  that  if  in  such  a 
case  as  I  have  imagined  some  one  snatched  the  money 
from  Verigin,  the  latter  should  neither  snatch  it  back 
again  nor  set  the  police  to  catch  the  thief. 

Tolstoy,  who  shrinks  from  no  logical  consequence  of 
his  axioms,  will  no  doubt  be  ready  to  grant  that  com¬ 
munal  property  (if  a  step  better  than  private  property), 
has  no  sacred  rights,  and  that  the  Doukhobdrs  should  be 
perfectly  ready  to  abandon  their  land  to  any  settlers  who 
like  to  claim  it. 

But  here,  at  last,  one  has  to  challenge  the  very  axioms 
from  which  Tolstoy  starts.  What  evidence  is  there  that 
the  use  of  physical  force  to  restrain  one's  fellow-man  is 
wrong  when  not  used  maliciously,  hastily,  or  wantonly  ? 
How,  again,  does  Tolstoy  know  that  the  motive  for  the 
possession  of  property  is  always  selfish  ?  I  am  ready  to 
grant  that  the  use  of  physical  force  is  so  often  prompted 
by  malice,  and  the  use  made  of  property  is  so  often  selfish, 


286 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


that  a  strong  presumption  has  arisen  in  many  minds,  to 
the  effect  that  malice  and  selfishness  are  the  sole  roots  of 
these  things.  But  axioms  must  not  be  accepted  without 
strict  examination  ;  for  the  root  of  much  perplexity  lies  in 
them. 

What  has  happened  in  the  case  of  Tolstoy  and  the 
Tolstoyans  may  be  paralleled,  I  think,  by  the  case  of 
Bradlaugh  and  the  Secularists.  The  clergy  and  religious 
people  of  a  generation  ago  made  a  fetish  of  the  Bible. 
Their  attitude  towards  it  was  ignorant,  superstitious,  and 
credulous.  Consequently  an  overwhelming  feeling  arose 
in  the  minds  of  certain  sincere  and  brave  men,  that  the 
influence  of  the  Bible  ought  to  be  attacked  and  destroyed. 
They  made  a  fierce  onslaught  on  it,  emphasizing  its  defects 
and  minimizing  its  value.  The  Bible,  which  is  the  cream 
of  the  literature  of  a  people  who  had  a  genius  for  religion 
(as  Matthew  Arnold  points  out),  responds  admirably  to 
man’s  spiritual  needs,  and  its  value  is  independent  of  the 
stupidity  of  bibliolaters.  The  Secularists  could  not  see 
this :  their  reaction  against  a  stolid  superstition  was  too 
vehement  to  be  balanced.  And  there  really  was  a  true 
and  unanswerable  side  to  their  case — as  against  the  current 
opinion  they  were  attacking.  Treating  the  Bible  as  an 
infallible  book  was  not  their  blunder ;  their  mistake  lay 
in  allowing  their  indignation  at  something  wrong  in  the 
world  around  them  (namely,  at  the  stupidity  and  super¬ 
stition  of  the  bibliolaters)  to  blind  them  to  the  immense 
service  rendered  to  humanity  by  the  saints  and  sages  who 
had  created  the  invaluable  literature  preserved  for  us  in 
the  Bible. 

The  Tolstoyan  attack  upon  property  and  on  the  use 
of  physical  force,  presents  a  similar  case.  Just  as  the 
Secularist  is  so  bent  on  destroying  a  superstition  that  he 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


287 


overlooks  the  true  use  of  the  Bible,  so  the  Tolstoyans  are 
so  bent  on  checking  the  malevolent  and  harmful  use  of 
force  and  the  selfish  use  of  property,  that  they  condemn 
the  whole  institution  of  human  laws  and  Governments, 
quite  forgetting  the  enormous  debt  of  gratitude  humanity 
owes  to  the  high-minded  and  public-spirited  men :  the 
Pyms,  Hampdens,  Washingtons,  and  Lincolns,  to  whom  it 
owes  institutions  which,  rightly  used,  make  further  reforms 
easy  of  attainment  that  without  them  would  be  almost 
unattainable.  As  the  vehemence  of  their  movements  die 
down,  the  Secularist  may  begin  to  see  the  value  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  Tolstoyan  the  healthy  root  which  enables 
the  institutions  of  human  law  and  property  to  survive  all 
attacks  directed  against  them. 

If  it  were  true  (as  is  often  assumed)  that  our  property 
system  rests  simply  and  solely  on  a  basis  of  selfishness,  the 
Tolstoyan  case  would  be  valid.  The  real  justification  for 
that  definiteness  in  relation  to  our  use  of  material  objects , 
which  is  the  essence  of  the  so-called  “  rights  of  property," 
lies  in  the  fact  that  definiteness  tends  to  facilitate  harmony 
among  men.  If  a  man  makes  a  spade  and  the  spade  is 
recognized  to  be  his,  he  can  use  it  (selfishly  or  unselfishly), 
or  he  can  give  it  to  a  man  who  needs  it,  or  he  can  lend 
it  to  others  for  a  definite  time  or  on  definite  conditions. 
In  a  word,  human  intercourse  and  human  co-operation  are 
facilitated  by  the  existence  of  a  common  understanding 
which  does  not  need  to  be  thrashed  out  afresh  at  each  new 
transaction.  If  any  one  wants  the  spade,  he  knows  he 
must  come  to  the  owner  for  it.  But  suppose  “no  pro¬ 
perty  "  principles  were  prevalent  (and  I  have  seen  this 
operating  on  a  small  scale  in  a  Tolstoy  colony),  you  would 
have  causes  of  discord  multiplied  a  hundred-fold.  The 
man  has  then  “  no  right "  to  the  spade  he  made,  or  to 


288 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


the  book  he  wrote.  Consequently,  he  has  no  right  to 
give  it  away,  for  he  cannot  confer  a  right  he  does  not 
possess.  Neither  can  he  lend  what  is  not  his.  Some  one 
else  may  come  and  walk  off  with  it,  leaving  him  unable 
to  finish  his  work,  and  he  is  deprived  (by  this  queer 
moral  code)  of  the  right  even  to  complain.  He  at  once 
puts  himself  in  the  wrong  by  wishing  to  assert  that  he 
ever  had  a  right  to  anything. 

A  sincere  young  man  I  knew,  named  A.,  came  under 
the  influence  of  an  eloquent  leader  in  the  Tolstoy  move¬ 
ment,  and  adopted  “no  property ”  principles.  Another 
young  man  was  induced  to  spend  the  few  hundred  pounds 
he  possessed  in  buying  land  for  “  no  property  ”  people  to 
live  on.  Quarrels,  bitterness,  and  waste  of  time  and 
energy  were  the  immediate  result,  simply  because  of  the 
indefiniteness  of  the  arrangement.  Little  by  little  the 
colonists,  who  had  hoped  to  set  an  example  to  mankind, 
had  to  learn — what  mankind  has  to  relearn  as  often  as 
the  truth  is  forgotten — the  need  of  definiteness  in  human 
arrangements  if  we  wish  our  efforts  to  result  in  benefits 
either  for  ourselves  or  for  others.  A.  ultimately  settled 
down  in  the  practical  possession  of  a  piece  of  land  he 
cultivates  ;  but  he  continued  to  hold  “no  property  ”  ideas. 
He  happened  to  be  fond  of  flowers  and  took  pride  in  a 
flower-bed  he  had  planted  and  tended.  Arguing  with  B. 
(a  fellow  colonist),  A.  maintained  that  the  flower-bed  was 
not  his  (A.  V)  own  property.  “  Then  any  one  may  claim 
it  who  likes  ?  ”  asked  B.  “  Yes,”  replied  A.  “  Well,  then, 
I  claim  it,  and  will  walk  on  it,”  remarked  B.,  and  pro¬ 
ceeded,  with  heavy  boots,  to  trample  down  the  flowers. 
B.,  of  course,  acted  badly ;  but  A.,  it  seems  to  me,  was 
also  to  blame  for  lack  of  definiteness.  It  comes  ultimately 
to  this,  that  two  men  cannot  both  eat  the  same  piece  of 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY  289 

bread,  and  there  is  no  moral  gain  in  pretending  you  do 
not  claim  the  bread  you  eat. 

Good  business  consists  in  getting  work  done  with  a 
minimum  of  waste,  confusion,  toil,  or  contention.  That 
is  what  every  one  aims  at  who  deserves  our  respect  as  a 
business  man.  Reliable  men  who  work  efficiently  are  the 
salt  of  industrial  and  commercial  life,  and  they  are  just 
the  men  who  are  surest  to  feel  the  need  of  definite  arrange¬ 
ments,  especially  if  they  possess  any  organizing  capacity. 

Tolstoyism,  in  its  eagerness  to  cure  the  terrible  evils 
that  result  from  selfishness,  has  become  reckless  about 
conserving  what  is  good  in  the  present  order  of  society. 
It  does  not  value  those  results  of  efforts  expended  in  the 
right  direction,  which  have  become  sacred  to  us  because 
they  are  so  human  and  pathetic.  In  this  respect,  it  is 
like  the  nurse  who  poured  out  the  baby  when  emptying 
its  bath. 

To  defend  itself  against  the  disintegrating  forces  of 
which  Tolstoyism  is  but  one  instance,  human  society  must 
learn  to  recognize  and  respect  what  is  noble,  healthy,  and 
heroic  in  itself,  and  must  cease  to  regard  its  baser  elements 
as  the  cement  that  holds  it  together. 

If  it  is  a  moral  duty  to  promote  concord  among  men, 
it  is  certainly  a  moral  duty  to  make  definite  arrangements 
about  property  matters.  It  is  true  that  no  external 
arrangements  the  ingenuity  of  man  can  devise,  will  secure 
peace  and  harmony  among  obstinate,  wilful,  and  incon¬ 
siderate  people.  But  definite  arrangements  tend  to  make 
it  easier  for  any  set  of  men  to  avoid  friction,  and  easier  for 
them  to  co-operate  harmoniously  together.  That  human 
arrangements  are  imperfect  is  not  a  reason  for  rejecting 
them,  but  is  rather  a  reason  for  continually  improving 
them. 


u 


290 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


The  advantages,  whether  of  individualism  or  of  com¬ 
munism,  must  always  be  comparative.  It  can  never  be 
a  question  of  64  all  or  nothing,"'  as  Tolstoy  would  have 
us  believe,  but  must  always  be  a  question  of  more  or  less. 
Under  different  circumstances,  at  different  times,  and  in 
different  places,  the  balance  of  advantage  may  lie  this 
way  or  that  (and  the  well-being  of  the  community  will 
always  depend  on  the  character  of  its  members  more  than 
on  the  form  of  its  institutions) ;  but  reasonable  men  must 
devise  and  insist  on  some  definite  arrangements,  and 
Anarchism  (Tolstoyism  is  peaceful  Anarchism)  is  only 
intelligible  as  a  reaction  against  despotism. 

A  very  close  and  suggestive  parallel  may  be  drawn 
between  Tolstoy  and  a  great  writer  who  influenced  him 
very  strongly,  namely  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau.  Each  of 
them  lived  under  an  ancien  regime  which  was  decaying  and 
breaking  down.  Each  of  them  thought  much  of  what 
should  be ,  and  stringently  condemned  what  is.  Neither  of 
them  was  careful  to  consider  what  of  permanent  value  to 
humanity  there  may  be  in  the  'present  structure  of 
society. 

In  Rousseau’s  Discourse  on  the  Origin  of  Inequality , 
property  is  derived  from  confiscation,  all  wealth  is  a  crime, 
all  government  is  tyranny,  all  social  laws  are  unjust.  In 
The  Slavery  of  Our  Times  Tolstoy  says  much  the  same 
thing.  Rousseau’s  deism  offended  both  Churchmen  and 
materialists.  Tolstoy’s  case  is  just  the  same.  (Nor  do  I 
think  he  is  wrong  here).  Both  men  are  individualists  of  an 
extreme  type ;  neither  of  them  has  the  modern  scientific 
spirit,  which  conscientiously  tries  to  understand  how  we 
came  to  be  what  we  are.  They  do  not  care  laboriously  to 
trace  the  path  by  which  society  has  reached  its  present 
stage,  but  prefer  to  produce  a  theory  from  their  inner 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


291 


consciousness.  Their  inclination  is  to  look  upon  the 
present  as  bad  and  to  contrast  it  with  a  state  absolutely 
good,  which  Rousseau  found  in  the  primeval  savage  life, 
while  Tolstoy  finds  it  in  a  future  state  of  society  when 
physical  force  will  be  no  longer  used  between  man  and 
man.  Both  are  men  of  great  literary  power,  and  both  are 
typical  of  states  of  society  in  which  the  Government  is 
not  controlled  by  the  society  it  governs,  and  in  which, 
consequently,  as  soon  as  a  man  ventures  on  the 
dangerous  course  of  criticising  Government,  his  criticism 
is  likely  to  be  extreme.  A  man  in  that  position  is  not 
weighted,  as  we  are,  by  a  consciousness  that  the  Government 
owes  its  mandate  to  his  own  choice  and  to  that  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  Rousseau  “  saw  that  under  the  French 
monarchy  the  actual  result  was  the  greatest  misery  of  the 
greatest  number,  and  he  did  not  look  much  further. 
The  Contrat  Social  is  for  the  political  student  one  of  the 
most  curious  and  interesting  books  existing.  Historically 
it  is  null ;  .  .  .  practically  its  manipulations  of  the  volonte 
de  tom  and  the  volonte  generate  are  clearly  insufficient  to 
obviate  anarchy.  But  its  mixture  of  real  eloquence  and 
apparent  cogency  is  exactly  such  as  always  carries  a 
multitude  with  it,  if  only  for  a  time.”  *  Something  like 
this  might  be  said  of  much  of  Tolstoy’s  work,  by  way  of 
completing  the  parallel.  But  our  danger  (except  for  a 
small  minority  of  exceptionally  constituted  people)  is  not 
that  Tolstoy’s  social  theories  will,  in  this  country,  be  taken 
at  more  than  their  true  value,  but  that  the  strongly 
practical  trend  of  the  English  intelligence  will  cause  the 
real  worth  of  his  work  to  be  underrated.  People  are  so 
terribly  apt  to  accept  a  thing  completely  or  to  reject  it 
completely  ;  they  are  so  little  inclined  to  weigh  it  carefully 


*  George  Saintsbury. 


292 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


and  discriminate  judiciously  ;  and  our  local  predispositions 
run  so  strongly  counter  to  those  of  Tolstoy. 

While  I  am  writing  this,  the  words  of  a  Russian  familiar 
with  our  institutions,  come  into  my  hands.  Paul  Vino- 
gradoff  in  his  inaugural  lecture  as  Corpus  Professor  of 
Jurisprudence  at  Oxford,  said  that  Sir  Henry  Maine,  “Never 
sacrificed  the  complexity  of  organic  evolution  to  unity  of 
conception  and  clearness  of  exposition.  Whatever  his 
failings,  he  undoubtedly  possesses  the  merits  of  an  English¬ 
man  in  his  search  for  the  meaning  of  life  as  it  really  is .” 

.  .  .  An  apparent  obliviousness  of  the  complexity  of  social 
problems,  marks  much  of  Tolstoy’s  work.  He  has  learnt 
by  personal  experience,  but  is  impatient  of  the  more  com¬ 
plex  lessons  of  social  experience.  He  advances  at  a  rate 
possible  only  to  those  who  have  cut  the  traces  which  bind 
them  to  the  slow  waggon  of  social  progress,  and  who  move 
in  the  frictionless  realms  of  theory.  Yet  it  is  a  social  and 
not  a  merely  personal  morality  that  claims  us  to-day,  and 
if  we  accept  new  rules  we  wish  to  verify  them  by  experience. 
It  is  this  characteristic  of  English  thought  which  makes 
it  so  difficult  to  secure  appreciation  for  Tolstoy’s  views 
among  us.  We  may  sympathize  with  his  aims  and  detest 
the  things  he  detests,  yet  we  cannot  but  question  some  of 
his  most  sweeping  generalizations.  But  because  his  views 
are  not  all  right,  they  are  not,  therefore,  all  wrong ;  and 
the  help  he  can  render  us  is  all  the  greater  because  he 
approaches  the  problems  of  life  from  another  side,  and 
helps  us  to  see  them  through  other  eyes. 

His  service  is  not  merely  that  he  has  stated  some 
great  problems  soundly  and  well,  nor  is  it  that  on  other 
subjects  (such  as  this  great  question  of  non-resistance, 
government,  and  property)  he  has  stated  an  important 
fallacy  so  powerfully  that  he  almost  compels  us  to  find  the 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


293 


right  reply,  but  it  is,  above  all,  that  he  faces  the  funda¬ 
mental  problems  of  life  and  of  morality  with  a  courage, 
a  frankness,  and  an  inspiring  confidence  in  the  efficacy 
of  moral  and  intellectual  effort,  to  which  it  would  be  hard 
to  find  a  parallel  in  modern  literature.  An  Englishman 
is  usually,  by  natural  habit  of  mind,  so  specialized  and 
restricted  in  his  outlook,  he  is  so  absorbed  in  “  the  tare  on 
tallow,"'  or  on  winning  the  next  election,  or  on  framing  a 
workable  compromise  that  will  unite  the  extreme  and  the 
moderate  temperance  reformers,  etc.,  etc.,  that  in  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  he  has  never  even  tried  to 
face  the  great  problems  Tolstoy  deals  with  and  makes 
so  attractive.  It  is  invaluable  for  the  average  English¬ 
man  to  learn  that  such  problems  can  be  dealt  with,  and 
are  being  dealt  with — however  unworkable  some  of  the 
proposed  solutions  may  be. 

Tolstoy  condemns  all  civil  and  criminal  courts  of 
justice;  and  their  defects  in  England  as  well  as  in  Russia 
are  obvious  enough  to  make  the  condemnation  plausible. 
But  experience  shows  wherein  the  great  value  of  law  lies. 
It  may  fail  to  render  justice,  but  at  least  it  obliges  men 
to  face  the  light  of  publicity,  and  by  the  decision  of  an 
impartial  third  party  it  settles  many  a  dispute  which 
would  otherwise  continue  indefinitely.  Neither  side  can 
refuse  to  have  its  case  examined  ;  and  even  if  the  decision 
arrived  at  be  sometimes  unjust,  it  is  still  a  decision.  In 
reality  an  enormous  number  of  cases  are  settled  every  day 
(without  going  to  law  at  all)  by  simply  ascertaining  what 
the  law  is.  Many  agreements  are  concluded  voluntarily, 
because  the  more  cantankerous  of  the  disputants  is  aware 
that  by  refusing  a  fair  arrangement  he  cannot  prevent 
some  impartial  settlement  from  being  arrived  at.  In  a 
word,  the  healthy  root  which  enables  juridical  institutions 


294 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


to  survive  in  spite  of  all  their  many  defects,  is  discoverable 
in  the  fact  that  without  them  quarrels  would  be  more 
frequent,  and  harmony  more  difficult  to  attain  than  is  now 
the  case. 

Between  Sir  Henry  Maine’s  statement  that  law  is 
“  common  sense,”  and  Tolstoy’s  view  that  law  is  a  gigantic, 
costly,  and  wicked  conspiracy  whereby  the  rich  enslave  the 
poor,  the  balance  of  truth  is  on  the  side  of  the  former. 

Again,  as  to  using  or  neglecting  to  use  our  capacity 
to  restrain  by  physical  force  those  whom  we  cannot  other¬ 
wise  prevent  from  injuring  their  neighbours,  why  should 
we  bury  this  talent  with  which  Providence  endows  us  ? 
True,  the  malicious  or  harmful  use  of  physical  force  in 
wars,  prisons,  schools  and  elsewhere,  has  made  it  natural 
to  wish  to  challenge  the  right  to  use  any  physical  force. 
But  in  some  cases  the  duty  of  using  it  is  quite  evident ; 
and  to  define  the  cases  in  which  it  should  not  be  used  we 
must  seek  a  reasonable  classification.  It  is  right  to  dis¬ 
tinguish  actions  that  do  good  from  actions  that  do  harm, 
and  motives  that  are  benevolent  from  motives  that  are 
malevolent ;  but  the  Tolstoyan  distinction  between  actions 
in  which  physical  force  is  used  to  restrain  some  one,  and 
actions  in  which  physical  force  is  not  so  used,  is  unsatis¬ 
factory.  It  comes  sufficiently  near  to  separating  what  is 
good  from  what  is  bad  to  be  specious  and  difficult  to 
refute ;  but  it  fails  to  condemn  much  that  is  bad,  and  does 
condemn  some  things  that  are  good.  A  malicious  word 
may  sometimes  be  worse  than  a  blow,  whereas  the  arrest 
of  a  violent  and  drunken  man  may  be  a  wise  and  benevo¬ 
lent  act.  Who  can  doubt  that  if  a  man — mad,  drunk, 
passionate,  stupid,  or  desperate — were  to  seize  the  helm  of 
a  ship  and  insist  on  steering  a  course  that  endangered  his 
own  life  and  the  life  of  every  one  on  board,  it  would  be  a 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


295 


moral  duty  to  remove  him  from  the  helm  by  force,  if  he 
could  not  be  promptly  removed  by  any  other  means. 
With  kindly  intent  and  for  the  general  benefit  of  those 
concerned,  physical  force  has  been,  is,  and  ought  to  be, 
used.  Not  to  use  it  is  sometimes  immoral.  The  arbitrary 
and  unreasonable  decree  that  it  should  never  be  used,  is 
the  root  of  the  whole  puzzle  ;  and  is  the  axiom  from  which 
nearly  all  that  is  erratic  or  obscure  in  the  Tolstoyan  system 
proceeds. 

In  the  dispute  about  property,  both  parties  usually 
assume  that  property  rests  on  selfishness.  So  St.  Francis, 
Tolstoy,  and  other  reformers,  naturally  say,  “  Then  let  us 
have  nothing  to  do  with  so  immoral  an  institution !  ” 
But  here  the  destinies  interpose  and  laugh  to  scorn  the 
heroic  attempts  of  the  prophets  and  the  saints.  At  first, 
the  moral  appeals,  and  ethical  arguments  appear  to  be 
all  on  one  side ;  but  the  facts  of  life  remain  obstinately 
on  the  other. 

As  long  as  the  j  ustification  of  property  or  of  govern¬ 
ment  is  supposed  to  be  a  selfish  one,  so  long  will  move¬ 
ments  of  moral  revolt  against  these  institutions  occur  and 
recur.  But  as  long  as  such  movements  fail  to  discern  the 
real  good  that  resides  in  definiteness  of  arrangement — they 
will  continue  to  pour  the  waters  of  their  enthusiasm  into 
a  desert,  and  will  achieve  no  permanent  success.  The  per¬ 
ception  of  the  true  moral  value  of  property  and  Govern¬ 
ment  (often  overgrown  as  they  are  by  weeds  and  parasites 
that  make  them  barely  recognizable)  should  help  us  to 
find  the  banks  between  which  the  stream  of  man's  intel¬ 
lectual  and  moral  efforts  must  be  guided  if  it  is  to  flow 
through  the  land,  irrigate  the  fields,  and  make  the  country 
blossom  like  a  rose.  The  more  carefully  mankind  differen¬ 
tiates  between  what  is  excellent  and  what  is  base  in  our 


296 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


institutions,  the  more  will  all  that  is  evil  in  them  wither 
and  all  that  is  good  in  them  be  strengthened  and  flourish. 

But  how  could  it  happen  that  a  man  of  Tolstoy’s  mental 
power  ever  made  so  obvious  an  error  as  to  suppose  that  all 
use  of  physical  force  to  check  one’s  fellow-man  is  immoral  ? 

The  question  is  easily  answered  if  only  we  remember 
how  strong  is  the  force  of  reaction.  The  various  dis¬ 
senting  bodies  in  Russia  (Stundists,  Baptists,  Molokans, 
and  others)  are  still  continually  being  persecuted,  as  their 
predecessors  have  been  persecuted  during  centuries.  The 
Orthodox  Russian  Church  has  the  strong  arm  of  the 
secular  power  behind  it,  and  meets  all  attacks  by  using 
physical  force.  So  the  persecuted  Dissenters  naturally 
identify  physical  force  with  moral  iniquity :  “  Here  is 
proof  that  we  are  in  the  right  and  you  are  in  the  wrong ; 
we  wish  only  to  use  the  arm  of  the  spirit ;  you  will  not 
let  us  speak,  but  oppose  us  with  the  arm  of  flesh !  ”  In 
this  case,  physical  force  and  wrong-doing  clearly  go  hand 
in  hand,  and  the  world  over  it  is  only  too  easy  to  find 
instances  more  or  less  parallel,  while  the  cases  in  which 
physical  force  is  used  between  man  and  man  benevolently 
and  beneficently  are  comparatively  few  and  far  between. 
A  false  classification  has  thus  been  set  up  in  men’s  minds 
which  identifies  force  with  evil.  To  Tolstoy,  who  sym¬ 
pathizes  warmly  with  the  oppressed  Dissenters,  and  who  is 
rightly  horrified  by  the  wars  (and  by  the  armed  peace) 
from  which  the  world  suffers,  it  has  been  natural  enough 
to  adopt  this  classification.  Nor  need  we  wonder,  for  we 
find  that  it  has  commended  itself  again  and  again  in  the 

o  o 

world’s  history  to  weak  minorities  anxious  to  be  allowed 
to  proclaim  their  beliefs,  but  threatened  by  the  violence 
of  mobs  or  governments. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  suggest  that  Tolstoy  is  other 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


297 


than  perfectly  sincere  in  holding  his  non-resistant  prin¬ 
ciples  (just  as  W.  L.  Garrison  was  sincere  in  so  doing  in 
the  days  of  Boston  pro-slavery  mob  violence),  hut  it 
should  be  noted,  both  as  explaining  Tolstoy's  attitude 
and  as  excusing  it,  that  no  line  he  could  have  adopted 
would  have  more  embarrassed  the  Government  he  was 
opposing,  or  have  enabled  him  to  strike  at  it  more 
effectively  and  at  the  same  time  more  safely.  One  can¬ 
not  expect  a  man  to  keep  his  judgment  carefully  balanced 
while  he  is  fiercely  fighting  a  great  evil,  nor  should  one  be 
hard  on  him  if  he  predicates  universal  applicability  to  a 
plausible  generalization  which  in  his  own  experience  he 
has  found  extremely  useful.  It  is  we,  who  live  in  other 
circumstances  and  have  other  experience,  on  whom  the 
duty  falls  of  detecting  and  correcting  an  error  which  it 
would  be  inexcusable  for  us  to  make,  though  for  him  it 
has  been  almost  inevitable  to  do  so. 

The  persecuting  Church  and  autocratic  Government 
leaning  on  one  another  for  support,  cannot  meet  Tolstoy 
in  argument.  They  would  be  stabbed  to  the  heart  again 
and  again  like  unwieldy  and  naked  giants,  before  they 
found  the  one  weak  spot  in  the  armour  of  the  knight  who 
attacks  them.  And  his  indictment  of  them  is  so  framed, 
that  should  they  use  brute  force  against  him  they  would, 
to  all  appearance,  by  so  doing  just  prove  the  truth  of  his 
contention.  His  arrest  or  banishment  would  seem  to  con¬ 
firm  the  very  point  on  which  his  teaching  really  stands 
most  in  need  of  support. 

On  the  property  question,  again,  what  could  be  more 
natural  for  a  strenuous  man — revolting  against  the  ex¬ 
ploitation  of  the  poor  by  the  rich  —  than  to  identify 
property  with  selfishness ;  and  to  declare  that  the  remedy 
lies  in  abandoning  it  altogether  ? 


298 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Francis  of  Assisi  flung  away  his  last  garment  and  went 
out  naked  into  the  world.  Tolstoy  shares  that  spirit ;  and 
in  all  grades  of  society  and  in  all  nations  many  men  have 
been  attracted  by  the  idea.  That  it  is  not  adopted  to-day 
by  numbers  who  are  in  revolt  against  existing  evils,  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  whenever  it  is  tried  evil  results  follow, 
and  eventually  produce  a  reaction. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  passed 
before  the  natural  effects  of  the  Franciscan  movement 
(which  adopted  the  66  no  property  11  principle)  were  fully 
visible,  and  before  Wyclif  was  moved  to  rebuke  the  crowd 
of  “  sturdy  beggars  11  preying  on  men  more  industrious 
than  themselves  ;  and  to  declare,  with  pardonable  exaggera¬ 
tion,  that  “  the  man  who  gives  alms  to  a  begging  friar,  is 
ipso  facto  excommunicate.11  Things  move  more  rapidly  in 
our  day  of  printing  presses  and  railways ;  and  the  same 
cycle  of  actions  :  first  the  rejection  of  property,  prompted 
by  religious  enthusiasm ;  then  the  sanctimonious  exploita¬ 
tion  of  others  who  do  use  property ;  then  a  reaction 
against  the  hypocrisy  the  movement  engendered  ;  and,  ulti¬ 
mately,  a  moral  resolve  to  oppose  the  spread  of  what  is 
becoming  a  public  nuisance — has  been  witnessed  in  the 
Tolstoy  movement  in  England  within  the  last  few  years. 

On  the  question  of  government  it  is  almost  too  much 
to  expect  a  Russian  to  speak  with  moderation.  One  is 
not  surprised  that  so  good  a  man  as  Kropotkin  should,  in 
theory,  be  a  violent  anarchist,  regarding  assassination  with 
sombre  acquiescence ;  nor  is  one  surprised  that  Tolstoy 
should  become  a  non-resistant  anarchist,  denying  the  need 
of  any  Government  at  all.  Here,  again,  it  is  remark¬ 
able  how  strong  a  case  he  manages  to  make  out :  what 
injustice  Governments  tolerate;  how  much  they  care  for 
themselves  and  how  little  they  care  for  the  common 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY  299 

people  ;  how  greatly  their  patriotism  consists  in  jealousy 
of  other  nations,  and  how  astonishingly  large  a  proportion 
of  their  revenue  is  devoted  to  the  destruction  of  life  and 
property  in  war. 

But,  once  again,  the  real  answer  to  his  thesis  lies  in 
experience.  Granting  that  Government  is  at  best  but  an 
expedient,  and  that  the  best  of  Governments  has  great 
defects,  it  is  still  true  that  we  should  be  worse  off  without 
any  Government;  and  it  is  not  true  that  men  only  seek 
power  from  selfish  motives,  or  that  power  always  corrupts 
them.  It  is  not  by  abandoning  the  institutions  of  one's 
country,  but  by  amending  them  and  working  them  honestly, 
that  progress  is  being  made. 

The  enormous  excess  of  the  amounts  used  by  Govern¬ 
ments  for  harmful  and  destructive  purposes  over  the 
amounts  they  use  for  productive  and  beneficent  purposes, 
does  not  truly  represent  the  balance  of  loss  and  gain  to  the 
world  from  having  Governments.  The  good  that  collective 
activity  does  at  home  is  cheaply  done.  We  are  so  accus¬ 
tomed  to  the  advantages  of  having  a  stable  Government, 
that  we  only  half  realize  how  great  those  advantages 
really  are.  It  is  true  that  when  racial  animosity  blinds 
them,  nations  pour  out  their  treasure  like  water,  and  let  it 
run  to  waste.  Fortunately  for  mankind  that  waste  is  very 
obvious ;  but  it  is  a  fallacy  to  suppose  that  in  the  absence 
of  organized  governments  racial  animosities  would  vanish. 

Heartsick  from  the  truth,  rather  than  from  the  exaggera¬ 
tion,  in  Tolstoy's  indictment,  and  almost  persuaded  by  his 
eloquence  to  accept  what  I  see  to  be  an  unsound  conclu¬ 
sion — I  turn  for  strength  to  the  words  of  a  man  who  was 
a  practical  politician,  and  did  not  shrink  from  power,  but 
whose  sincerity,  courage,  and  wish  to  do  right  were  as  un¬ 
questionable  as  Tolstoy's.  Lincoln  in  his  second  inaugural 


300 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


address  (towards  the  end  of  the  great  American  Civil  War, 
and  not  long  before  his  own  assassination),  said,  “  Fondly 
do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills  that  it 
continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  up  by  the  bondman’s 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be 
sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash  shall 
be  paid  by  another  drawn  by  the  sword,  as  was  said  three 
thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said, 4  The  judgments 
of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.’  With 
malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in 
the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in  ;  to  bind  up  the  nation’s  wounds ; 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for 
his  widow  and  his  orphan ;  to  do  all  which  may  achieve 
and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and 
with  all  nations.” 

The  difference  between  that  appeal  to  continue  the 
work  we  are  in,  and  Tolstoy’s  appeal  to  discard  the  insti¬ 
tutions  human  effort  has  evolved,  is  that  whereas  Tolstoy 
concentrates  his  thought  on  what  man  ought  to  be, 
Lincoln  considered  also  what  we  are  and  what  we  may 
become.  Tolstoy  denounces  and  condemns  the  steps  imme¬ 
diately  before  us,  because  they  are  still  far  from  perfection; 
Lincoln  takes  those  steps  with  his  company,  the  better 
to  help  them  over  the  ground.  The  great  risk  of  accept¬ 
ing  a  far-off  ideal  is  that  we  have  no  possibility  of  testing 
its  validity  by  experience ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  a  very 
great  responsibility  attaches  to  those  who  urge  upon 
others  an  ideal  which,  when  really  tested  by  experience,  may 
after  all  prove  to  be  faulty.  That  is  why  the  work  and  the 
example  of  a  Lincoln  is  not  less  valuable  to  mankind, 
than  the  work  and  the  example  of  one  to  whom  the 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


301 


whole  outlook  on  life  (- Weltanschauung ,  as  the  Germans 
say)  of  a  statesman  appears  immoral. 

We  could  not  do  without  our  prophets,  for  they  show 
us  many  things  that  without  them  we  should  not  see  ; 
but  we  must  remember  that  they,  too,  are  fallible  ;  there 
is,  as  Jane  Addams  says,  “A  common  sense  in  the  mass 
of  men,  which  cannot  be  neglected  with  impunity,  just 
as  there  is  sure  to  be  an  eccentricity  in  the  differing 
and  reforming  individual,  which  it  is  perhaps  well  to 
challenge.” 

By  mentioning  Lincoln  and  the  Civil  War,  I  have, 
however,  come  to  the  stronghold  of  the  Tolstoyan 
position.  Are  we  to  justify  war  ?  If  the  wholesale 
and  premeditated  slaughter  of  men  is  right,  can  anything 
be  wrong  ?  Have  we  not  an  increasing  testimony,  from 
Isaiah  down  to  Wyclif,  the  Quakers,  and  Tolstoy,  against 
it?  Is  not  militant  imperialism  (with  its  accompaniments 
of  despotism  and  conscription)  the  great  evil  of  our  times, 
which  all  good  men  should  unite  to  resist  to  the  utter¬ 
most,  and  should  expose  as  a  crime  against  humanity  ? 

I,  for  my  part,  will  say  no  word  in  favour  of  war. 
The  war  Lincoln  directed  was,  perhaps,  the  most  excusable 
recorded  in  modern  history.  But  looked  at  in  the  most 
material  and  practical  manner,  one  finds  that  it  cost  about 
£1,600,000,000  to  release  slaves  whose  market  value  was 
some  £400,000,000,  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  lives  of  half  a  million  men  were  thrown  into  the 
bargain,  that  the  reform  effected  was  incomplete,  and 
that  a  multitude  of  other  ills  resulted  from  the  struggle. 
While,  however,  I  see  that  the  best  of  wars  are  hateful 
and  foolish,  I  yet  cannot  find  any  point  in  Lincoln’s 
career  at  which  I  feel  sure  that  he  should  have  refused 
to  continue  the  work  he  had  in  hand.  There  is  a  curious 


302 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


sophistry,  to  the  use  of  which  men  with  a  gift  for  simpli¬ 
fying  great  problems  are  often  unconsciously  prone. 
They  simplify  a  problem  by  isolating  it ;  and  the  sophistry 
lies  in  the  resultant  over-simplification.  The  question, 
“  Is  war  right  or  wrong  ?  ”  evades  the  fact  that  the 
problems  of  real  life  are  not  simple,  but  complex.  The 
choice  is  seldom  between  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong ; 
it  is  usually  between  a  number  of  possible  roads, — a  choice 
of  evils,  or  of  courses  made  up  of  good  and  evil  inter¬ 
twined.  Would  it,  for  instance,  have  been  better  to  stand 
aside  and  acquiesce  in  the  disruption  of  the  Union  ? 
Would  it  have  been  better  to  leave  4,000,000  slaves  in 
captivity,  whom  Lincoln  was  afterwards  able  to  release  ? 
Would  it  have  been  better  to  refuse  the  difficult  and 
dangerous  duty  of  steering  the  ship  of  State,  when  he 
alone  could  sufficiently  command  the  confidence  of  his 
fellows  to  save  the  country  from  still  greater  disasters  ? 
I  do  not  undertake  to  discuss  or  to  answer  these  questions  ; 
my  contention  merely  is  that  one  has  to  weigh  the  special 
circumstances  of  each  case  as  it  arises,  and  cannot  safely 
guide  one’s  conduct  by  any  hard  and  fast  rule  which 
knows  nothing  of  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  or  of  the 
character  of  the  people  concerned . 

Surely  the  duty  of  man  is  not  to  do  what  he  can’t,  but 
to  do  the  best  he  can  ;  and  I  believe  that,  by  adopting 
abstract  rules  never  to  do  this  or  that,  never  to  use  force, 
or  money,  or  support  a  Government,  or  go  to  war,  and 
by  encumbering  our  consciences  with  line  upon  line  and 
precept  upon  precept,  we  become  less  likely  to  behave 
reasonably  and  rightly  than  if  we  attended  more  to  those 
next  steps  the  wisdom  of  which  can  be  tested  in  daily  life. 
To  speak,  as  Tolstoy  sometimes  does,  of  ceasing  to  do 
evil  before  we  begin  to  do  good,  is  as  though  you  asked  a 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


303 


lecturer,  before  delivering  his  discourse  to  cease  to  vitiate 
the  air  by  breathing ;  or  as  if  we  insisted  that  a  child 
should  cease  to  make  mistakes  before  it  continued  to 
learn  arithmetic  ;  so  profoundly  true  is  it  that  “  Social 
perspective  and  sanity  of  judgment  come  only  from  con¬ 
tact  with  social  experience.  Such  contact  is  the  surest 
corrective  of  opinions  concerning  the  social  order  and 
concerning  efforts  for  its  improvement."’1 

The  justification  for  using  force  to  one's  neighbour 
lies  in  the  fact  that  there  are  circumstances  under  which 
(judging  the  matter  with  one's  faculties  at  their  best)  one 
would  oneself  wish  to  be  restrained  by  force.  All  that 
Tolstoy  says,  holds  good  as  against  malevolent,  vindictive, 
and  revengeful  force  ;  but  it  breaks  down  as  soon  as  we 
come  to  consider  cases  in  which  a  man's  motive  for  using 
force  (or  for  using  the  law)  is  a  well-considered  belief  that 
it  is,  on  the  whole,  the  best  course  to  pursue  in  the 
ultimate  interest  of  the  various  people  concerned. 

The  justification  for  the  possession  and  use  of  property 
lies  in  the  fact  that  one  can  serve  one's  fellows  better  under 
settled  than  under  unsettled  conditions.  Property  gives 
no  moral  right  to  a  selfish  or  wasteful  expenditure  of 
the  fruits  of  toil ;  but  property  is  far  too  responsible  a 
trust  to  be  flung  aside.  Whether  it  be  kept  or  lent  or 
given  away,  it  involves  responsibilities  which  reach  far 
beyond  the  personal  relation  of  its  owner  towards  the  first 
man  who  begs  for  it  or  snatches  at  it,  though  that  is  the 
only  side  of  the  case  Tolstoy  usually  deigns  to  consider. 

A  firm  of  forgers  of  bank-notes  or  of  bills  of  exchange, 
should,  on  the  Tolstoyan  theory,  neither  be  prosecuted, 
nor  arrested,  nor  have  their  implements  seized.  He  regards 
the  problem  as  limited  to  the  forger  and  the  prosecutor, 
and  as  being  decided  by  the  prosecutor's  willingness  to 


304 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


forgive  the  man  who  asks  to  be  let  off.  Really,  such  a 
matter  relates  to  the  whole  community  ;  and  if  men  fol¬ 
lowed  Tolstoy's  advice,  and  refused  to  be  policemen, 
judges,  jurymen,  witnesses,  etc.,  human  affairs  would  be 
thrown  into  inextricable  confusion,  for  no  better  end  than 
to  furnish  one  more  practical  refutation  of  a  theory 
experience  has  already  refuted  a  hundred  times. 

The  misuse  of  property  must  be  distinguished  from 
the  ownership  of  property. 

Just  as  there  is  a  difference  between  (1)  the  hermit 
who  retires  into  the  desert  to  live  a  holy  life  and  to  escape 
from  sin;  (2)  the  monk  who  joins  a  special  Order  to  attain 
the  same  ends,  and  (3)  the  social  worker  who  spends  his 
life  if  need  be  even  amid  the  friction  and  worry  of  a 
crowded  city,  for  the  sake  of  co-operating  with  those 
weaker  or  more  ignorant  than  himself;  so  there  is  a 
difference  between  (1)  the  individualist-Tolstoyan  frame 
of  mind  which  isolates  life's  problems,  and  refuses  to 
see  their  complexity  ;  (&)  the  communist-Tolstoyan  frame 
of  mind  (represented  by  Work  while  ye  have  the  Light) 
which  desires  to  form  communities  which,  breaking  with 
the  past,  re-commence  the  task  of  organizing  human 
relations  ah  initio ,  and  (3)  the  social  frame  of  mind,  which 
is  ready  to  share  the  life  of  humanity  at  large,  prizing  the 
efforts  of  our  predecessors  too  highly,  and  esteeming  our 
own  powers  too  modestly,  to  be  willing  to  fling  away  what 
the  past  has  handed  down  to  us. 

So  wide  is  the  scope  of  Tolstoy's  non-resistant  theory, 
and  so  important  is  its  confirmation  or  refutation,  that,  at 
the  risk  of  wearying  the  reader,  I  will  venture  to  recapitu¬ 
late  the  conclusions  I  have  come  to. 

(1)  Tolstoy's  pronouncement  about  property,  law, 
and  Government,  cannot  be  contemptuously  brushed  aside, 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


305 


for  it  is  no  isolated  eccentricity  of  his  own  ;  he  is  the  latest 
and  most  consistent  exponent  of  a  view  that  reappears 
again  and  again  in  history,  and  corresponds  to  deeply- 
seated  instincts  and  aspirations  of  the  human  heart. 

(2)  No  clear,  full,  and  detailed  reply  to  the  opinions  he 
advocates  has,  so  far  as  I  know,  ever  been  published.  It 
has  been  left  to  the  hard,  wasteful,  enthusiasm-blighting 
force  of  experience  to  check  the  evil  results  of  what  is 
wrong  in  those  opinions.  A  convincing  reply  might  rescue 
for  profitable  work  on  behalf  of  humanity,  many  an  earnest 
soul,  which  without  such  guidance  will  spend  its  strength 
in  a  path  leading  nowhither,  and  land  itself  in  a  quag¬ 
mire  of  intellectual  confusion.* 

*  Since  I  wrote  this  chapter,  Mr.  George  Moore’s  “  Avowals  ”  about 
Tolstoy,  have  appeared  in  the  Fall  Mall  Magazine. 

After  remarking  that  Tolstoy  has  spent  many  years  “  pleading  falsehood 
in  the  interest  of  his  special  code  of  morals,”  and  commenting  on  his  “  clear 
and  vehement  mind,”  and  the  “  battle  between  an  extraordinarily  clear 
intelligence  and  an  extraordinarily  powerful  temperament,”  he  concludes 
“  our  contention  is  that  Tolstoy  .  .  .  sacrifices  truth  to  theory .”  While  there 
is  much  in  Mr.  Moore’s  “  Avowals  ”  that  I  heartily  disagree  with,  I  have 
never  before  seen  the  case  against  non-resistance  so  forcibly  or  briefly  put. 
Tolstoy,  says  Mr.  Moore,  “  values  morality,  but  he  would  sacrifice  morality 
for  the  sake  of  his  theory — be  does  not  hesitate  to  put  it  aside  ;  and  this 
was  most  clearly  brought  out  in  his  interview  with  Mr.  Stead.  He  was 
telling  Mr.  Stead  that  in  the  later  texts  the  Gospel  says,  ‘  Be  not  angry 
with  thy  brother  without  a  cause.’  The  words  ‘  without  a  cause  ’  made 
the  gospel  read  like  the  daily  paper,  and  Tolstoy  went  back  to  the  earliest 
text.  The  words  ‘  without  a  cause  *  were  not  there.  Mr.  Stead  asked 
him  if  he  admitted  no  exceptions  to  his  doctrine  of  the  non-resistance  to 
evil :  for  instance,  if  he  saw  a  drunken  man  kicking  a  child  to  death, 
if  he  should  not  use  force  to  prevent  him.  Tolstoy  admitted  that 
this  was  an  exceptional  case.  A  little  while  after,  he  perceived  that  to 
admit  an  exception  invalidated  his  whole  doctrine,  and  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Stead  withdrawing  what  he  had  said,  saying  that  not  even  in  the  case  of 
a  drunkard  kicking  a  child  to  death  should  evil  be  resisted.  But  Tolstoy 
does  not  believe  this — no  one  believes  it,  no  one  can  believe  it.  .  .  .  If 
you  were  to  say  to  Tolstoy,  ‘  I  am  willing  to  live  in  obedience  to  a  moral 
standard  ;  but  which  moral  standard,  for  there  are  so  many  ?  ’  he  would 


X 


306 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


(3)  All  bandying  of  imputations  of  base  motives  in  the 
discussion  of  a  matter  of  this  kind  is  out  of  place.  The 
Holy  Synod  says  Tolstoy  thinks  as  he  does  because  he  is 
morally  perverted ;  various  Churches  often  say  the  same  of 
those  who  do  not  agree  with  them ;  Tolstoy,  like  the  Synod 
and  the  Churches,  often  assumes  that  what  he  says  is  just 
what  Jesus  meant,  and  that  all  men  know  it  to  be  true 
and  would  publicly  admit  it  were  they  but  sincere.  Really, 
neither  Synod,  Church,  nor  Tolstoy,  can  be  allowed  thus 
to  beg  the  question  in  their  own  favour.  The  arguments 
; pro  and  con  must  be  squarely  met  whether  those  who 
advance  them  be  honest  or  dishonest.  It  is  for  him  who 
is  wisest  and  strongest,  if  he  be  truly  wise  and  strong,  to 
be  gentlest  towards  those  who  are  in  error. 

(4)  For  Russia  in  particular,  where  the  existing  form 
of  autocracy  seems  to  be  on  its  last  legs,  it  is  nothing  less 
than  a  national  calamity  that  her  great  literary  prophet 
should  exhort  people  to  neglect  and  despise  the  aid  that 
law,  government,  and  definite  property  relations,  can 


answer,  ‘There  is  but  one,  and  that  one  you  will  find  in  the  Gospels.’ 
But  how  do  I  know  that  the  Gospels  are  true  ?  You  yourself  are  forced 
to  make  a  selection  of  Christ’s  teaching.  ‘  My  interpretation  of  Christ’s 
teaching  is  the  true  one,  for  it  is  in  agreement  with  the  voice  of  conscience 
which  you  will  hear  speaking  within  you.’  But  no  man’s  conscience  tells 
him  that  he  should  not  use  force  to  prevent  a  drunkard  from  kicking  a 
child  to  death.” 

This  is  quite  unanswerable.  Tolstoy  bases  his  case  on  an  appeal  to 
conscience,  but  the  conscience  of  every  rational  and  humane  man  is 
against  him  on  the  crucial  point.  The  morality  or  immorality  of  using 
physical  force  depends  not  on  any  absolute,  rigid,  and  external  law,  but 
on  circumstances  and  on  motives,  and  Tolstoy  cannot,  after  first  calling 
on  our  consciences  to  authorize  his  interpretation  of  the  Gospels,  then 
proceed  to  use  his  interpretation  of  the  Gospels  to  override  our  con¬ 
sciences  !  What  it  comes  to  is  this,  that  he  has  built  his  theory  condemn¬ 
ing  law  and  government  and  property,  on  a  foundation-stone  which,  when 
we  examine  it,  is  found  to  be,  not  of  rock,  but  of  sand. 


307 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 

afford  to  the  public  well-being.  That  Russia  may  pass 
through  the  crisis  that  is  sooner  or  later  coming  upon 
her,  without  having  to  encounter  a  reign  of  terror  and  a 
subsequent  military  dictatorship,  it  is  all-important  that 
reverence  for  law,  and  the  habit  of  respecting  social  as  well 
as  individual  morality,  should  be  carefully  cultivated. 
Respect  for  social  morality  is  far  too  weak  everywhere, 
and  is  weaker  in  Russia  than  elsewhere.  That  participa¬ 
tion  in  local  or  other  Governmental  affairs,  in  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  justice,  or  in  the  management  of  private  property, 
should  be  subjected  to  moral  indictment,  is  very  greatly 
to  be  regretted,  however  sincere  the  motives  prompting  the 
indictment  may  be.  “  An  exaggerated  personal  morality 
is  often  mistaken  for  a  social  morality,  and  until  it  attempts 
to  minister  to  a  social  situation  its  total  inadequacy  is 
not  discovered.”  To  attempt  to  attain  a  social  morality 
without  being  willing  to  learn  the  lessons  of  democratic 
experience  (which  furnish  the  only  possible  corrective  and 
guide),  ends  in  an  exaggerated  individual  morality  but 
not  in  social  morality  at  all.  .  .  .  “  A  man  who  takes  the 
betterment  of  humanity  for  his  aim  and  end,  must  also 
take  the  daily  experiences  of  humanity  for  the  constant 
correction  of  his  process.”  * 

A  reply  to  Tolstoy’s  impetuous  rejection  of  the  fruits  won 
by  the  efforts  of  previous  generations  of  reformers,  is  well 
given  in  his  own  second  letter  to  Verigin.  “When  I  see 
an  ant-hill  in  the  meadow,  I  cannot  admit  that  the  ants 
have  been  mistaken  in  constructing  that  hill,  and  doing 
all  they  are  doing  in  it.  And  in  the  same  way,  looking 
at  all  the  .  .  .  labours  mankind  has  accomplished,  I 
cannot  admit  that  they  have  done  it  all  by  mistake.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  wish  to  destroy  the  whole  hill  of  human 

*  From  Democracy  and  Social  Ethics ,  by  Jane  Addams. 


308  A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 

labour,  but  only  to  arrange  better  what  is  ill-arranged 
in  it/’ 

Would  that  he  always  spoke  so  reasonably !  The 
matter  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  Russia,  but  even 
among  ourselves  there  are  men,  whose  aid  the  cause  of 
social  progress  can  ill  afford  to  lose,  who  have  been  diverted 
by  Tolstoy’s  anti-Governmental  teaching  from  all  attempt 
to  work  the  institutions  of  their  country,  or  to  support 
those  who  try  to  work  them  aright. 

Therefore,  I  have  felt  moved  to  sketch  out  what  I 
take  to  be  the  main  lines  of  a  reply  to  Tolstoy’s  theory 
of  non-resistance.  To  develop  it  fully  would  need,  not  a 
chapter  in  a  book  dealing  mainly  with  another  subject, 
but  a  whole  book  to  itself. 

“  God  needs  our  limitations,”  Tolstoy  once  remarked  ; 
and  even  the  greatest  of  men  have  their  limitations. 
Tolstoy  is  gifted  with  an  unrivalled  faculty  for  condensing 
and  simplifying ;  it  has  enabled  him  to  render  immense 
services  to  mankind,  the  value  of  which  is  not  yet  fully 
recognized,  and  I  should  greatly  regret  if  by  any  word  of 
mine  I  appeared  to  underrate  his  worth ;  but  he  has  some¬ 
times  treated  as  simple,  what  is  really  very  complex,  and  has 
included  in  one  wholesale  condemnation,  customs,  institu¬ 
tions  and  occupations,  the  abolition  of  which  would  leave 
us  worse  off  than  we  now  are.  The  appreciation  of  the 
fact  that  property  carries  with  it  duties  rather  than  rights, 
and  that  its  possession  furnishes  no  excuse  for  luxury,  or 
for  not  serving  our  fellows,  preserves  what  is  vital  in 
Tolstoy’s  social  and  economic  tractates,  and  paves  the  way 
for  those  voluntary  or  legislative  readjustments  in  society 
which  are  becoming  every  day  more  and  more  urgently 
necessary. 


A  CRITICISM  OF  TOLSTOY 


309 


Tolstoy,  as  I  have  elsewhere  remarked,  “  is  no  fault¬ 
less  and  infallible  prophet,  whose  works  should  be 
swallowed  as  bibliolaters  swallow  the  Bible ;  but  he  is 
a  man  of  extraordinary  capacity,  sincerity,  and  self- 
sacrifice,  who  has,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  striven 
to  make  absolutely  plain  to  all,  the  solutions  of  the 
most  vital  problems  of  existence.'”  To  admit  that  he  has 
not  always  succeeded  in  reaching  the  final  solution  of 
the  problems  he  has  dealt  with,  is  merely  to  admit  that  he 
is  human. 

When  his  achievements  are  finally  summed  up,  in  the 
foreground  (besides  his  work  as  novelist  and  dramatist) 
will  stand  the  fact  that  he,  first  among  Russians,  framed 
a  moral  indictment  of  Church  and  State,  of  Synod  and 
Autocracy,  which  compelling  men’s  attention  re-echoed 
throughout  Russia  and  reached  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

With  great  originality,  power,  and  lucidity,  he  has 
succeeded  in  giving,  in  popular  form,  sound  answers  to  a 
number  of  large  questions  (concerning  art,  religion,  etc.) 
which  are  outside  the  scope  of  this  book.  But  not  least 
among  his  many  claims  to  the  gratitude  of  humanity,  will 
stand  the  service  he  has  rendered  by  boldly  grappling 
problems  others  feared  to  tackle,  and  which  even  he  has 
failed  to  solve  :  problems  so  complex  that  only  one  side 
of  them  could  be  dealt  with  at  a  time.  He  has  called  in 
question  the  very  foundations  on  which  our  social  edifice 
is  built,  and  he  has  done  this  so  clearly  and  forcibly  that 
the  matter  cannot  be  left  where  it  is.  We  cannot  so  on 
patching  the  superstructure,  if  the  whole  building  is 
perhaps  on  the  point  of  crashing  to  the  ground !  I  have 
tried  to  suggest  reasons  for  believing  that  however 
urgently  the  building  may  need  repair,  the  old  foundations 


310 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


are  as  firm  to-day  as  when  they  were  first  laid.  But,  not 
the  less,  it  is  well  to  have  them  re-examined,  for  they 
will,  I  believe,  be  found  to  rest,  not  on  the  subsoil  of 
selfishness  hitherto  regarded  as  a  solid  rock,  but  on  a 
subsoil  of  morality,  which,  though  really  safer,  still  appears 
to  many  no  better  than  a  quicksand. 

When  the  clamour  of  partisans  and  of  detractors  has 
died  down — when  Tolstoy’s  errors  and  exaggerations  have 
all  been  frankly  admitted — it  will  be  only  the  more 
distinctly  realized  how  immense  is  the  debt  humanity  owes 
to  this  man,  whose  intellectual  force,  love  of  the  people, 
courage  and  outspokenness,  have  given  to  his  words  a 
power  of  arousing  men’s  consciences,  unapproached  by  any 
of  his  compatriots  and  unequalled  by  any  of  his  con¬ 
temporaries. 


CHAPTER  XI 


CONCLUSION 

Recalling  the  hope  and  bustle  and  throbbing  life  of  the 
Tolstoy  movement  of  1895-99,  and  the  enthusiasm  that 
then  existed  to  help  the  Doukhobors,  I  ask  myself, 
“  What,  of  gain  or  loss,  has  resulted  ? 11 

Is  it  good  or  bad  for  Canada  to  have  some  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  Doukhobors  forming  a  separate 
kingdom  in  her  midst  ?  The  question  is  the  more  apropos 
because  the  desirability  of  becoming  British  subjects  has 
lately  been  pressed  on  their  attention,  and  they  have 
shown  considerable  reluctance  to  accept  that  suggestion. 

I  do  not  think  Canada  suffers  from  the  presence 
of  a  frugal,  laborious,  sober,  honest  and  serious  people ; 
even  if  they  have  their  own  superstitions  and  clannish 
patriotism. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  a  danger  in  the  one-man 
power  to  which  they  are  subject.  People  who  submit 
their  minds  to  any  hypnotic  influence,  are  liable  to 
behave  irrationally ;  and  collective  irrationality  constitutes 
a  public  danger.  But  in  this  case  it  is  probably  not  an 
immediate  danger ;  for  whatever  we  may  think  of 
Verigin's  philosophy  (and  the  publication  of  his  Letters 
indicates  Kapoustin's  shrewdness  in  deciding  that  the 
sect  had  better  not  learn  to  read),  he  is  certainly  a 


312 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


capable  organizer,  and  under  his  rule  there  is  reason  to 
expect  that  they  will  increase  in  material  prosperity. 
They  are  now  already  quite  well-to-do.  No  doubt  trouble 
may  arise  should  he  be  succeeded  by  an  incompetent 
man ;  but  the  peculiarities  of  the  Doukhobor  nature, 
formed  under  conditions  different  from  those  that  exist  in 
Canada,  are  sure  to  be  gradually  modified  by  their  altered 
human  environment,  and  the  danger  that  now  exists  is 
likely  to  diminish  with  time. 

Even  to-day  the  men  who  have  been  away  at  work  on 
the  railways,  or.  elsewhere,  would  many  of  them  be  inclined 
to  break  from  the  enchanted  circle,  were  it  not  that  the 
women  hold  them  back.  The  women  are  the  chief  reposi¬ 
tories  of  the  “  Living  Book  ”  that  enshrines  the  traditions 
of  the  sect,  and  they  are  exceedingly  conservative.  To  be 
told  they  are  66  no  Doukhobors,”  or  “  like  Galicians,”  is  to 
them  a  terrible  reproach.  Besides  this,  they  feel  (and  are 
they  not  right  ?)  that  life  in  a  community,  with  its  vivid 
and  varied  interests,  its  ceaseless  human  intercourse,  its 
co-operation  and  zeal  for  the  common  good,  is  incompar¬ 
ably  preferable  to  the  dull,  lonely,  isolated  existence  of 
the  ordinary  Canadian  settler’s  family,  squatted  in  the 
midst  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  all  by  themselves. 

Canadians,  with  a  patriotic  selfishness  that  is  not 
admirable,  often  ask  why  they  should  have  the  uplifting 
of  inferior  races  ?  Why  should  not  Europe  cure  the  folk 
Europe  has  spoilt  ?  But  (apart  from  the  question  whether 
the  Doukhobors  are  an  inferior  race  :  either  physically, 
mentally,  or  morally)  is  it  not  nobler  and  wiser  for  a 
nation  to  share  in  the  task  of  uplifting  humanity,  rather 
than  to  try  to  maintain  an  exclusive  virtue,  limited 
by  a  political  boundary  and  safe-guarded  by  deliberate 
selfishness  ? 


CONCLUSION 


313 


Whenever  a  Canadian  official  treats  a  Doukhobdr  with 
kindly  consideration  ;  whenever  the  authorities  show 
themselves  straightforward,  firm,  and  fair  ;  whenever 
any  Canadian  treats  a  Doukhobdr  as  a  fellow-man,  a 
real  step  is  taken  towards  curing  the  Doukhobdr  of  his 
clannish  exclusiveness.  One  obstacle  to  the  Doukhobdrs 
frankly  becoming  British  subjects  lies  not  in  their  super¬ 
stitions,  but  in  ours.  The  Doukhobdr,  amid  errors  how¬ 
ever  gross,  has  seen  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  staking 
the  lives  of  thousands  of  human  beings  on  the  success  of  a 
game  of  political  bluff,  played  in  absolute  personal  safety 
by  the  ambitious  politicians  of  different  nations.  The 
whole  trend  of  human  advance,  as  well  as  the  influence  of 
true  religion,  and  the  increasingly  intimate  relations  be¬ 
tween  foreign  countries,  must  confirm  and  strengthen  this 
perception,  and  the  fact  that  they  see  it  clearly,  while  the 
rulers  of  Canada  and  of  England  are  oidy  half  beginning 
to  see  it,  constitutes  a  serious  factor  in  the  case.  We 
have  no  right  to  despise  Doukhobdr  superstitions  and 
Doukhobdr  patriotism,  as  long  as  we  foster  among  our¬ 
selves  a  superstition  and  a  form  of  patriotism  equally 
degrading  and  even  more  deadly. 

As  to  the  immediate  question  of  the  Doukhobdrs 
becoming  British  subjects  (a  matter  which  should  be 
settled  in  1906  if  they  are,  in  pursuance  of  the  original 
plan,  to  receive  free  grants  of  the  land  they  now  occupy), 
it  is  worth  noticing  that  until  Verigin  had  reached 
Canada,  the  Government  could  do  nothing  with  the 
Doukhobdrs,  whose  consciences  were  abnormally  tender 
at  that  time.  When  Verigin  arrived  and  saw  what  a  con¬ 
fusion  things  were  in,  he  announced  that  the  sect  would 
become  British  subjects.  Not  a  single  protest  was  heard  ; 
and  they  made  entry  for  their  land  on  that  understanding. 


314 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


Later  on,  when  matters  had  settled  down  and  Verigin 
was  firmly  in  the  saddle,  a  strange  thing  happened;  he 
still  professes  his  willingness  that  they  should  become 
British  subjects;  but,  on  this  occasion  only,  his  assistants 
apparently  work  against  him  and  advocate  refusal  of 
Naturalization  among  the  villages.  The  Government 
pressed  to  have  the  agreement  carried  out.  A  meeting 
of  Doukhobors  was  called  at  the  end  of  February  1904, 
and  decided  that  the  matter  must  be  left  to  the  individual 
conscience  of  each  Doukhobor,  and  the  suggestion  was 
made  that  the  Government  should  send  a  representative 
to  ascertain  these  individual  decisions.  Early  in  March 
(according  to  some  anti-Verfginite  Doukhobors)  a  Cate¬ 
chism  was  sent  round  to  the  different  villages  to  be  learnt 
by  heart  by  every  one,  so  that  they  should  be  ready  to 
reply  to  the  official  inquiry.  A  faulty  translation  of 
this  document  appeared  in  the  Winnipeg  Telegram  on 
7th  May.  I  give  a‘  version  that  is  better,  though  still 
perhaps  not  quite  correct,  as  my  Russian  copy  is  obscure 
in  some  places. 


1.  Question.  Why  was  Christ  born  ? 

Answer.  To  save  the  world,  and  for  kindness  and  humility. 

2.  Q.  Why  do  you  not  wish  to  become  subjects  ? 

A.  The  teaching  of  our  Saviour  forbids  it. 

3.  Q.  Of  what  kingdom  are  you  subjects  ? 

A.  Of  that  which  has  no  bounds. 

4.  Q.  To  what  law  are  you  subject? 

A.  To  that  which  has  no  bounds. 

5.  Q.  Of  what  Faith  are  you  ? 

A.  Judge  by  our  deeds. 

x  6.  Q.  To  what  Society  do  you  belong  ? 

A.  To  the  Universal  Brotherhood. 

7.  In  what  land  do  you  live  ? 

A.  In  the  world,  temporarily. 


CONCLUSION 


315 


8.  Wherein  has  the  love  of  God  revealed  itself  to  us  ? 

A.  In  that  God  has  sent  into  the  world  a  son  of  like  substance, 
that  through  him  we  might  be  saved. 

Kings  !  You  exist  for  men  who  like  yourselves  are  men  of  war. 

Peoples  !  as  Christians  we  cannot  take  part  in  any  conflicts  and 
dissensions,  and  therefore  you  may  leave  us  in  peace.  W e  assure 
you  that  a  time  will  come  when  men  will  beat  all  their  swords  into 
ploughs.  So  allow  us  already  to-day  to  bear  the  standard  of  truth 
along  the  path  towards  that  golden  age.  Men  are,  in  truth,  all 
equals  ;  this  should  be  taught  alike  to  the  children  of  herdsmen  and 
of  kings.  We  have  such  divine  enlightenment  that  we  can  only  do 
good  to  humanity. 

Do  you  really  not  admit  that  you  are  still  upholding  the  rude, 
human  laws  of  an  age  that  is  past,  when  man  flings  himself  on  his 
fellow-man,  swayed  by  cruel  instincts?  Wars  but  increase  the 
miseries  of  mankind. 

The  matter  is  not  yet  ended.  When  the  Catechism 
came  to  light  Verigin  stoutly  denied  its  authorship,  and 
readers  must  be  left,  at  present,  to  form  their  own 
conclusion  about  it.  What  I  would  beg  leave  to  point 
out  is,  that  even  if  Verigin  be  responsible  for  it,  we  are 
in  no  position  to  throw  stones  at  him.  The  plea  of 
political  necessity  has  repeatedly  been  adopted  by  our 
own  leaders  as  an  excuse  for  telling  lies,  as  in  the 
historic  instance  of  Lord  Salisbury’s  repudiation  of  the 
u  wholly  unauthentic  ”  reports  of  the  Anglo-Russian 
agreement  in  1878.  But  it  is  only  fair  to  let  Verigin 
speak  for  himself  on  this  matter.  The  following  letter 
from  him,  dated  15th  April  1904,  appeared  in  Mr. 
Tchertkoff’s  Free  Word  (Svobodnoe  Slovo),  which  may 
be  regarded  as  a  semi-official  organ  of  the  Doukhobdrs, 
for  it  seldom  fails  to  print  the  views  to  which  they  wish 
to  give  publicity,  and  it  always  has  delightfully  pious 
explanations  of  any  policy  they  choose  to  adopt. 

44  According  to  the  Canadian  laws  all  immigrants  who 


316 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


receive  grants  of  land,  have  to  sign  an  attestation  of 
allegiance  to  the  English  King.  Privately,  agents  of  the 
Government  have  already  two  or  three  times  proposed 
this  to  the  Doukhobors,  but  most  of  them  do  not  at 
all  wish  to,  and  apparently  will  not,  become  subjects ; 
and,  in  the  future,  troubles  with  the  Doukhobors  may 
arise  here.  The  law  is  that,  from  the  day  of  entering  for 
the  homestead  three  years  should  pass ;  then  the  Govern¬ 
ment  gives  a  title-deed  of  ownership  of  the  land,  for 
which  the  oath  of  allegiance  must  be  signed.  In  principle, 
this  term  has  not  yet  passed,  as  the  Doukhobors  only 
entered  their  names  for  the  land  when  I  arrived  last 
spring  (1903),  but  practically  the  Government  fully 
acknowledge  the  Doukhobors  to  be  reasonable,  and  are 
not  unwilling  to  accept  them  into  the  bosom  of  citizen¬ 
ship.  .  .  .  The  three  years  are  fixed  for  observation  of 
immigrants :  4  Are  they  of  a  profitable  kind  ? 1  There 
is  yet  two  years’  term,  and  time  will  show  what  will  then 
happen.  To  speak  openly,  many  of  the  Doukhobors  are 
dissatisfied  with  the  climate  and  with  cattle  breeding. 
And  taking  all  things  together,  whether  it  will  not 
compel  the  Doukhobors  to  emigrate  from  Canada,  cannot 
be  guaranteed.” 

I  will  add  the  opinion  expressed  in  a  letter  by  Gregory 
Kanigin  of  Troytskoe,  North  Colony,  on  28th  March  1904 
( i.e .  soon  after  the  circulation  of  the  Catechism  already 
referred  to). 

“I  forgot  to  tell  you  about  ‘being  subjects.’  The 
Doukhobors  have  decided  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  promise 
subjection  to  any  kings  or  emperors.  It  is  an  evident  sin 
to  take  an  oath,  that  is,  to  promise.  But  the  Canadian 
Government  very  much  wishes  that  we  Doukhobors  should 
be  subjects,  and  its  officials  often  come  to  us  about  it. 


CONCLUSION 


317 


But  our  Doukhobors  answer  them  and  persuade  them  : 

6  Let  us  all  live  together ;  come  now,  throw  up  all  service 
and  obedience  to  kings  and  emperors  who  rob  the  people, 
get  up  wars,  lead  us — the  people — to  the  field  of  battle, 
arrange  battles,  and  there  slaughter  us,  and  oblige  us  to 
kill  and  execute  one  another/  " 

The  Doukhobors  have  developed  a  talent  for  irony  of 
this  kind.  They  would  be  rather  taken  aback,  if  those 
they  address  took  them  at  their  word,  settled  down  as 
members  of  the  “  Universal  Brotherhood,"  and  began 
to  protest  against  Verigin's  rule,  which,  though  not 
resting  on  bloodshed,  is  still  a  dictatorship,  and  practically 
requires  a  good  many  “promises"  from  a  good  many 
people. 

Verigin,  as  I  have  said  before,  is  in  a  very  difficult 
position.  The  traditions  which  have  influenced  his  sect 
for  a  century  have  (if  they  ever  weighed  with  him)  been 
largely  obliterated  by  the  new  ideas  that  reached  him 
during  his  fifteen  years'  exile.  At  the  same  time  his  sect 
seems  to  need  leadership,  and  his  power  as  Leader  rests 
largely  on  their  superstitious  loyalty  to  him.  We  see  by 
his  published  letters  what  a  terrible  muddle  many  of 
his  own  ideas  are  in,  and  there  is  considerable  reason  to 
suspect  that  he  does  not  always  say  what  he  means  on 
practical  questions ;  but  we  have  no  right  to  expect  him 
to  come  up  to  the  fancy  portrait  painted  of  him  by  the 
Tolstoyans. 

And  while  on  this  topic,  let  me  explain  a  matter  that 
has  given  rise  to  misunderstanding  and  to  some  scandal. 
Peter  Verigin,  as  we  have  seen,  was  married  when  quite  a 
young  man,  and  separated  from  his  wife  nearly  twenty 
years  ago  by  Loukeriya  Kalmikova.  The  marriage  customs 
of  the  Doukhobors  differ  from  our  own.  Prostitution  and 


318 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


mariages  de  convenance  are  practically  unknown  among 
them.  They  attach  little  importance  to  marriage  cere¬ 
monies,  and  none  at  all  to  legal  decrees  of  divorce ; 
they  do  not  make  the  distinction  that  we  do  between 
the  actual  and  the  legal  dissolution  of  the  marriage 
bond. 

Verigin’s  wife  has  remained  in  the  Caucasus,  and  has, 
it  is  said,  thrown  in  her  lot  with  those  Doukhobors  who 
have  rejected  Verigin’s  leadership.  From  a  Doukhobor 
point  of  view  the  marriage,  therefore,  ceased  to  exist  years 
ago ;  and  in  their  eyes  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  his 
remarrying.  But  Verigin  (and  here  we  get  near  the  bottom 
of  the  Doukhobor  protests  against  the  registration  of 
marriages)  does  not  want  to  get  into  trouble  with  the  law 
against  bigamy.  So,  when  taking  to  himself  another  wife, 
he  has  preferred  to  do  it  without  a  wedding  ceremony,  and 
his  present  wife  (who  is  a  daughter  of  one  of  his  nieces) 
passes  officially  as  his  44  niece.”  Once  again,  I  am  not 
sure  that  those  who  want  the  Doukhobors  to  become 
loyal  subjects  of  Edward  VII.,  Fidei  Defensor ,  are  in  a 
position  to  say  much  to  the  Doukhobors  on  the  question 
of  conjugal  fidelity. 

Returning  to  the  consideration  of  the  gain  or  loss  that 
has  resulted  from  the  migration,  and  looking  at  the 
matter  now  from  the  Doukhobor  side,  Have  they  gained 
by  going  to  Canada  ?  We  may,  I  think,  safely  answer, 
Yes !  The  condition  they  had  drifted  into  in  Russia 
was  intolerable.  In  Canada  they  have  had  a  fresh  chance, 
with  every  advantage  that  could  reasonably  be  hoped 
for. 

It  is  no  small  gain  that,  after  all  the  confusion  of  the 
past,  their  real  beliefs  are  gradually  becoming  known, 
and  their  temptation  to  prevaricate  is  diminishing. 


THE  LEADER,  WITH  HIS  NIECE,”  INSPECTS  A  THRESHING  MACHINE.  Plate  XV. 


mm 

OF  THE 

I1KIVFRSITY  OF  ILUN0I8 


CONCLUSION  319 

Nothing  can  be  worse  for  any  folk,  than  to  be  committed 
to  a  systematic  course  of  secrecy  and  duplicity. 

What  has  been  attempted  in  this  book  has  been  to  give 
some  sketch  of  the  Doukhobdr  sect  as  a  whole.  This  I 
have  tried  to  do  impartially,  and  have  quoted  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  those  who  have  lived  longest  amongst  them  and 
know  them  best.  One  such  observer  quite  recently  wrote : 
“  Undoubtedly  the  Doukhobors  were  a  good  Christian  set 
of  folks  once — in  the  early,  protestant  days  of  the  sect, 
and  the  remains  of  it  survive  to  this  day :  in  some,  it 
would  seem,  the  old  spirit  is  still  strong.  Speaking 
broadly,  however,  it  is  but  the  forms  that  remain,  the 
essence  has  been  replaced  by  nationalism  and  the  special- 
prophet-of-God-with-Christ-living-among-us-always-in*the- 
flesh  idea  introduced  by  Kapoustin.  So  that  now  the 
principal  utility  of  their  religion  is  to  cloak  their  practical 
politics.”  To  avoid  injustice  to  individuals  it  should 
always  be  remembered  that  just  as  the  different  members 
of  our  own  families  show  very  different  characters,  so  the 
members  of  any  sect  or  clan  numbering  several  thousand, 
can  by  no  means  all  be  fitted  into  one  mould.  Each  Dou¬ 
khobdr  possesses  a  mind  and  heart  of  his  own,  as  is  the  case 
with  each  Catholic  or  Buddhist,  each  American  or  Russian ; 
and  nothing  would  be  more  unjust  than  to  regard  the 
Doukhobdr  children — who  impress  nearly  all  visitors  most 
favourably — as  being  condemned  by  hereditary  taint  to 
inherit  the  errors  of  their  parents. 

If,  however,  generalizations  have  their  drawbacks,  and 
no  characterization  of  a  whole  sect  can  ever  be  more  than 
approximately  correct,  it  remains  true  that  to  observe  a 
sect  collectively  is  of  some  use,  besides  being  justified  by 
the  limitations  of  time  and  space. 


320 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


The  study  of  the  Doukhobors  is  full  of  interest ;  for 
they  illustrate  much  that  occurred  in  the  social  and 
religious  movements  of  the  past.  While  we  watch  the 
Doukhobors,  old-world  problems  present  themselves  to  us 
afresh  as  practical  questions  of  to-day. 

None  of  these  has  a  wider  or  more  pathetic  interest 
than  that  of  which  this  sect  furnishes  so  prominent  an 
example ;  namely,  the  constant  yearning  of  the  human 
heart  to  incarnate  the  principle  of  goodness  in  a  human 
form.  How  incessant,  how  irresistible,  is  the  desire  to 
select  a  man,  a  body  of  men — or  were  it  but  a  book — that 
is  to  be  always  right,  and  whose  answers  to  life’s  sums  we 
may  just  copy  down  without  having  to  work  them  out 
for  ourselves  !  Use  our  own  talents  ?  There  are  times 
when  the  human  heart  does  not  desire  to  climb  for  itself 
the  endless  ascent  of  the  mountains  ever  revealing  fresh 
prospects  and  fresh  ascents,  but  just  yearns  for  some  guide 
who  will  do  the  thinking  and  observing  for  us.  How 
natural  (in  two  senses)  it  is  to  say,  “  Infallibility  must  be 
materialized  somewhere ;  and  it  is  nowhere,  if  not  here,” 
and  thereupon  to  accept  a  particular  man,  or  Church,  or 
book,  as  ultimate  interpreter  of  God’s  will.  How  many 
people  brought  up  in  such  belief,  ever  take  the  trouble  to 
test  it  for  themselves,  or  even  feel  sure  that  it  would  be 
right  to  do  so  ?  What  Catholic  accepting  the  authority 
of  the  Church,  or  Protestant  accepting  the  authority  of 
the  Bible  (ignorant  as  we  all  are  of  how  its  canon  was 
composed),  can  afford  to  despise  the  Doukhobor  belief  in 
Peter  Verigin  ?  Nay,  does  not  the  same  spirit  reappear  in 
the  feeling  of  many  a  Tolstoyan,  who  thinks  that  to  test 
his  master’s  theories  by  experience ,  and  to  question  their 
correctness  until  one  sees  if  they  will  work,  is  morally 
reprehensible. 


CONCLUSION 


321 


The  worst  of  all  such  attempts  to  regard  some  par¬ 
ticular  authority,  existing  in  time  and  space,  as  an  incar¬ 
nation  of  perfect  goodness  and  wisdom,  is  that  they  tend 
to  perplex  men,  and  to  divide  them.  Clearness  of  vision 
requires  the  single  eye :  “  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord 
thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.11  As  soon  as  we 
set  up  any  human  authority — man,  or  book,  or  sect — and 
say  that  it  is  wrong  to  question  their  decrees,  our  freedom 
to  follow  goodness  along  the  line  of  truth  no  longer  exists. 
In  these  matters  Tolstoyism  is  in  danger  of  following  the 
track  of  the  religious  movements  that  have  preceded  it. 
Whatever  problems  Tolstoy  may  put  before  us,  and  how¬ 
ever  graphically,  clearly,  impetuously,  honestly  and  for¬ 
cibly  he  may  deal  with  them,  no  solution  of  them  will 
help  you,  reader,  or  me,  that  is  not  our  own.  Each  little 
cabbage  must  grow  from  its  own  root ;  however  much  it 
may  owe  to  seed,  manure,  or  water,  or  to  the  gardener’s 
care  in  preparing  the  ground. 

It  remains  to  ask  whether  the  Tolstoyans  have  gained 
by  their  efforts  to  help  the  Doukhobdrs  ?  Apparently, 
in  the  first  instance,  they  have  lost.  With  flourish  of 
trumpets  they  proclaimed  to  the  world  that  they  had  dis¬ 
covered  a  tribe  of  primitive  Christians,  practical  exponents 
and  exemplars  of  non-resistance,  fit  for  the  rest  of  mankind 
to  imitate.  When  the  matter  came  to  a  practical  test — 
the  Doukhobdrs  surprised  us  all  by  showing  scant  regard 
for  the  wishes  or  convenience  of  the  Canadians,  who  had 
offered  them  a  home  in  the  New  World.  They  developed 
unintelligible  scruples,  doubted  the  morality  of  vital 
statistics,  the  lawfulness  of  keeping  domestic  animals,  or 
even  the  propriety  of  using  things  made  of  metal,  or  of 
doing  any  work  !  An  examination  of  the  origin  of  these 
scruples  led  to  the  discovery  of  their  superstitious  reverence 


Y 


322 


A  PECULIAR  PEOPLE 


for  their  Leader — of  the  extent  of  whose  sway  no  hint  had 
been  given  us  by  those  who  spoke  authoritatively  on  behalf 
of  the  sect  and  professed  to  understand  it.  All  this  was 
disappointing.  But  in  another  way  gain  has  come  to  the 
Tolstoyans.  Many  a  man  who  has  been  aroused,  for  the 
first  time,  to  a  keen  interest  in  life's  problems  by  Tolstoy’s 
writings,  has  been  inclined  to  attach  an  overwhelming  in¬ 
fluence  to  the  opinions  of  the  teacher  to  whom  he  owed  so 
much.  To  such  men  the  lessons  of  experience  taught  by 
the  Doukhobor  movement,  and  the  knowledge  of  Tolstoy’s 
indiscretions  in  connection  with  it,  have  sometimes  served 
as  a  useful  warning  that,  like  other  mortals,  Tolstoy  too 
is  fallible.  The  effect  has  been  to  check  the  trend  towards 
sectarianism,  which  is  observable  among  some  Tolstoyans, 
however  contrary  it  may  be  to  the  wishes  of  their  Leader. 

Personally  my  only  regret  is  to  have  helped,  however 
unwittingly,  to  mislead  the  Canadian  Government  or  any 
one  else.  By  this  book,  in  which  I  do  public  penance,  I 
try  to  atone  for  that  blunder.  How  it  occurred,  I  have 
already  explained. 

Finally,  what  of  the  cause  of  peace  ?  We  now  know 
that  the  resistance  to  conscription  in  Russia  was  accom¬ 
plished  not  by  a  band  of  “  Christian  Martyrs  ”  raised  above 
all  ordinary  human  failings,  but  by  men  fully  sharing  the 
faults  and  failings  of  common  humanity.  The  conclusion 
I  should  like  to  draw  is,  that  if  they  could  withstand  the 
hypnotism  of  military  imperialism,  so  may  we;  and  that 
when  conscription  comes  our  way,  our  resistance  to  it  may 
be  as  definite,  as  tenacious,  and  much  more  intelligent  than 
was  theirs. 

The  story  of  the  Doukhobors  teaches  lessons  of 
patience.  It  shows  us  how  evils  produce  reaction,  and 
how  the  violence  of  reaction  again  becomes  a  fresh  evil,  in 


CONCLUSION 


323 

its  turn  provoking  another  recoil.  A  little  thing  done 
peaceably  and  gently  may,  in  the  long  run,  have  a  greater 
net  effect  than  a  violent  effort  provocative  of  strife.  In 
this  way  it  is  true  that  the  meek  inherit  the  earth,  and 
in  this  sense  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance  has  real 
validity. 


APPENDIX  I 


Abbreviated  copy  of  a  Letter  from  the  Deputy  Minister 
of  the  Interior  to  Aylmer  Maude. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Ottawa, 

December  1st,  1898. 

Dear  Sir, 

Referring  to  my  letter  to  you  of  5th  October  last, 
containing  the  terms  of  the  arrangement  made  between 
this  Department  and  yourself  in  connection  with  the  Doukho- 
bor  emigration  from  Russia,  and  in  view  of  certain  changes  in 
the  conditions  with  reference  to  the  matter,  I  beg  to  submit  a 
further  proposal  which  will,  I  think,  simplify  and  make  the 
arrangement  entered  into  more  easily  understood.  .  .  . 

I  have  therefore  to  propose,  on  behalf  of  the  Government, 
that,  in  place  of  the  bonus  and  commission  which  were  to  be 
paid  under  the  former  agreement,  the  Department  will  pay 
over  on  behalf  of  these  people  a  sum  equal  to  £1  (about  $4*8G) 
per  head  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child  who  may  be  reported 
at  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  at  Winnipeg. 
This,  I  imagine,  will  greatly  simplify  the  arrangement  and 
prevent  any  misunderstanding,  .  .  .  and  will  result  in  the 
Government  paying  over  on  behalf  of  these  people  the  same 
amount  as  would  have  been  paid  under  the  first  proposal.  .  .  . 

I  have  therefore  to  submit  the  proposal  as  agreed  between 
us,  namely,  that  a  committee  be  appointed  in  Winnipeg  under 
which  all  arrangements  will  be  placed  in  connection  with 
the  settlement  of  the  Doukhobors  on  their  lands.  This 
committee  will  be  fully  authorized  to  disburse  all  moneys 

325 


326 


APPENDIX  I 


placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Doukhobor  fund,  to  the  best 
possible  advantage.  .  .  . 

All  moneys  granted  by  the  Government,  are  to  be  deposited 
in  the  Union  Bank  of  Canada  at  Winnipeg  to  the  joint  credit 
of  W.  F.  McCreary  and  Thomas  McCaffrey,  and  payments 
made  out  of  this  fund  only  on  order  of  the  committee  ;  Mr. 
Alexander  Moffat,  Accountant  in  the  Commissioner’s  office  at 
Winnipeg,  to  act  as  Secretary  of  the  Committee.  It  will  also  be 
his  duty  to  keep  separate  books  of  account  in  connection  with 
the  Doukhobors. 

Regarding  the  commission  to  be  paid  by  the  Government 
as  above  mentioned,  it,  of  course,  is  understood  that  no  portion 
of  this  money  is  to  be  used  for  transportation  expenses,  but 
that  it  shall  be  paid  over  to  the  credit  of  the  committee  for  the 
purpose  of  assisting  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Doukhobors 
after  arrival,  and  the  purchasing  of  such  supplies  as  may  be 
necessary  in  establishing  the  colony.  .  .  . 

I  am  now  making  application  to  the  Railway  Companies 
who  hold  certain  sections  of  land  in  the  reservation  set  apart 
for  the  Doukhobors,  and  expect  in  a  few  days  that  these  lands 
will  all  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Department  for  the 
Doukhobor  colonies.  This  will  give  the  colonies  solid  blocks 
of  land  with  the  exception  of  Sections  11  and  29,  which  are 
held  in  trust  by  the  Department  for  educational  purposes,  and 
which  cannot  be  dealt  with  at  present.  .  .  . 

I  may  add  that  it  is  expected  that  the  necessary  sanction 
will  be  given  to  the  order  exempting  the  Doukhobors  from 
military  service,  a  copy  of  which  will  be  forwarded  to  you  when 
it  has  passed. 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)  Jas.  A.  Smart, 

Deputy  Minister. 

To  Aylmer  Maude,  Esq. 

***  It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  Committee  referred  to 
in  this  letter  had  hardly  more  than  a  nominal  existence.  The 
funds  were  administered  by  the  officials  of  the  Immigration 
Department,  who,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  were 
probably  the  best  people  to  do  the  work. 


APPENDIX  II 


P.C.  2747. 

Privy  Council,  Canada. 

Extract  from  a  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Honourable  the 
Privy  Council ,  approved  by  His  Excellency  on 
December  6,  1898. 

On  a  report  dated  November  30,  1898,  from  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  stating  that  arrangements  have  been  completed 
with  Mr.  Aylmer  Maude,  of  London,  England,  the  representa¬ 
tive  of  the  sect  of  Russians  known  as  Doukhobors  who  now 
inhabit  the  slopes  of  the  Caucasus  in  Russia,  for  the  immediate 
immigration  to  Canada  of  several  thousands  of  these  people  : 
That  from  a  despatch  dated  May  27,  1898,  addressed  to  the 
Foreign  Office  by  Her  Majesty’s  Consul  at  Batoum,  it  would 
appear  that  since  their  settlement  in  the  region  of  the  Caucasus, 
the  Doukhobors  have,  by  their  good  behaviour,  diligence, 
sobriety,  and  hard-working  qualities,  brought  nothing  but 
prosperity  to  the  barren  localities  in  which  they  were  originally 
settled,  but  as  from  religious  doctrines  they  are  averse  to 
bearing  arms,  an  exception  which  the  Russian  Government  has 
refused  to  countenance,  they  have  been  permitted  by  the 
latter  to  depart  from  Russia  : — 

The  Minister  considering  that  the  Doukhobors  would 
appear  to  be  a  most  desirable  class  of  settlers  to  locate  upon  the 
vacant  Dominion  lands  in  Manitoba  and  the  North-West  Terri¬ 
tories,  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  expedient  to  give  them  the 
fullest  assurance  of  absolute  immunity  from  military  service  in 
the  event  of  their  settling  in  this  country. 

327 


328 


APPENDIX  II 


The  Minister  submits  that  sub-section  3  of  Section  21  of  the 
Militia  Act,  Chapter  41  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Canada, 
contains  the  following  provision  : — 

“Every  person  bearing  a  certificate  from  the  Society  of 
Quakers,  Mennonites,  or  Tunkers,  and  every  inhabitant  of 
Canada  of  any  religious  denomination,  otherwise  subject  to 
military  duty,  who,  from  the  doctrines  of  his  religion,  is  averse 
to  bearing  arms  and  refuses  personal  military  service,  shall  be 
exempt  from  such  service  when  balloted  in  time  of  peace  or 
war  upon  such  conditions  and  under  such  regulations  as  the 
Governor  in  Council,  from  time  to  time  prescribes.” 

The  Minister  recommends  that  under  the  power  vested  in 
your  Excellency  in  Council  by  the  above  provision,  the  Dou- 
khobors,  settling  permanently  in  Canada,  be  exempted  uncon¬ 
ditionally  from  service  in  the  Militia  upon  the  production 
in  each  case  of  a  certificate  of  membership  from  the  proper 
authorities  of  their  community. 

The  committee  submit  the  same  for  Your  Excellency’s 
approval. 

(Signed)  John  J.  Myers, 

Cleric  of  the  Privy  Council. 

The  Honourable 

The  Minister  of  the  Interior. 


APPENDIX  III 


Chronological  Summary  of  Chapters  III.  and  IV. 


John  Wyclif 
John  Huss 
Council  of  Constance 
Peter  of  Chelcic  active... 

Brethren  of  Chelcic  form  a  Community  ... 

Judaizers  burnt  in  Moscow  ... 

Martin  Luther 
Luther’s  ninety-five  theses 
Reformed  Church  in  Riga... 

Peasants’  War  in  Germany  ... 

Anabaptists  rule  in  Munster 
Bashkin  imprisoned 

Printing  press  in  Moscow  ...  . 

Kosoy  condemned 
Iv&n  the  Terrible  rules 
Antitrinitarian  Church  in  Poland 
Unitarian  Church  founded  in  Transylvania 
Faust  us  Socinus  at  Cracow 

First  Slavonic  Bible  printed . 

George  Fox 

Nikon’s  Reforms  in  liturgy  ... 

Church  Council  anathematizes  Raskolniks 
Savage  decrees  against  Raskolniks  ... 

Kullman  and  Norderman  burnt  in  Moscow 

Peter  the  Great  rules . 

Last  Council  of  Russian  Church  condemns  Tveritinof 

329 


...  1320-1384 

1369-1415 
1415 

about  1430-1456 
1457 
1504 

...  1483-1546 

1517 
1523 
1525 

...  1533-1535 

.  1552 

1553 

1555 

1547-1584 

1565-1658 

1568 

...  1579-1604 

1581 

...  1624-1690 

1654 
1667 

1687-1689-1693 
1689 
1689-1725 
1714 


330 


APPENDIX  III 


...  1722-1794 

1730 

...  1730-1741 

1736 
1743 

about  1750-1775 
...  1775-1785 


Gregory  Skovoroda  . 

“  The  Rock  of  Faith  ”  prohibited 
Biron,  Duke  of  Courland,  rules  Russia  ... 

Sons  of  Priests  taken  as  recruits 
Edict  against  Quakers  in  Russia  ... 

Sylvan  Kol^snikof  active 
Ilarion  Pobirohin  active 
Non-Resistant  Indians  massacred  at  Gnadenhiitten  ...  1782 

Savely  Kapoustin . b.  1743  (d.  1820  ?)__ 

Migration  of  Doukhobors  to  Milky  Waters  1801-1824 
Alexander  I.  rules  ...  ...  ...  ...  1801-1825 

Kapoustin  invited  to  Milky  Waters  ...  ...  ...  1805 

Robert  Pinkerton  visits  Milky  Waters  ...  ...  1816 

Wm.  Allen  and  S.  Grellet  visit  Milky  Waters  ...  1819 

Russian  Bible  Society  suppressed...  ...  ...  1826 

Vasily  Kalmikof  ...  ...  ...  ...  1792-1832 

Ilarion  Kalmikof  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  1816-1841 


Doukhobors  transported  to  Caucasus  1841-1844 

Peter  Kalmikof  died  ...  ...  ...  ...  1864 

Loukeriya  Vasilyevna  Kalmikova  died  ...  ...  1886 

Peter  Verigin  banished  to  Shenkoursk  ...  1887 

Peter  Verigin  advises  vegetarianism,  non- 
resistance,  and  renunciation  of  intoxicants 

and  narcotics  .  1893 

Peter  Verigin  banished  to  Obdorsk  winter  of  1894-1895 
Burning  of  Arms  ...  ...  -  ...  28  June  (o.s.)  1895 

Migration  to  Canada  of  7,363  Doukhobors  1899 

Protest  against  Canadian  Land  Laws  ...  ...  1900 

Publication  of  Verigin’s  Letters ...  1901 

The  Pilgrimage  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  1902 

Verigin  released  from  Siberia  ...  ...  ...  1902 

Nudity  Parades  ”  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  1903 

Communal  activity  and  prosperity  ...  ...  1903-1904 


INDEX 


Abeydkof,  Vasily,  227 
Abramof,  137 

Adam  and  Eve,  example  of,  219 
Addams,  Jane,  65,  66,  67,  301 
“Address  to  All  People,”  the,  211, 
214,  240 

Advice  not  to  work  physically,  224 
Agriculture,  Doukhobor  success  in, 
129 

Albertson  (of  the  “Christian  Com¬ 
monwealth  ”),  66 

Alexander  I.,  10,  23,  121,  122,  126, 
138,  144 

Allegiance,  swearing,  153 

Allen,  William,  140 

American  Friend ,  the ,  69 

Anabaptists,  the,  8,  84,  85,  86 

Ananias  and  Sapphira,  161 

Anarchism,  22,  290 

Anarchists,  43,  44 

Anarchy,  Christian,  164 

Angus,  E.  B.,  56 

Anne,  the  Empress,  104 

Anti- Governmental  propaganda,  171 

- teaching  :  Tolstoy’s,  308 

“  Appeal  to  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,” 
212 

Apostles,  twelve,  146 
Araktcheyef,  Count,  144 
Arbitration,  4 

Archer,  H.  P.,  74,  76,  200,  239, 
253,  254,  259 
Arms,  26 

- ,  burning  of,  33,  174 

Army  service,  105,  167 
Authorities,  relations  of  Doukhobors 
with  the  Eussian,  155 


Bagehot,  Walter,  261 
Baker,  Miss  Nellie  E.,  77 


Ball,  John,  81 
Baptism,  17 

Bareheaded  and  barefooted  pilgrims, 
217 

Bashkin,  87,  88,  89 
Behaviour  towards  officials,  132 
Bellows,  Hannah,  179 

- ,  John,  76 

- ,  William,  179 

Bible,  the,  16,  20,  120,  132,  135, 
142,  144,  286 

Bible  Society,  the,  126,  134,  138 
Binding  machine  burnt,  243 
Biron,  Duke  of  Courland,  104,  105 
Birukoff,  Paul,  62,  174,  214 
Biriukova,  P.  N.,  182 
Bitterness  of  feeling,  216 
Blagodarenie  village,  188,  189 
Bodyansky,  Alexander,  200,  201, 
202,  211,  212,  213,  214 
Bogomilites,  the,  7 
Bohemians,  the,  80 
Bontch-Brouevitch,  77,  78,  150,  160, 
259 

Bonus,  the,  325 

Bougdashef  Doukhobors,  the,  167, 
169 

Bradlaugh  and  the  Secularists,  286 
Brethren  of  Chelcic,  the,  83 
Bribery,  Accusation  of,  155 
Brotherhood  Church,  the,  163 
Business,  good :  What  it  consists  in, 
289 


Caesar’s  Organization,  224 
“  Cake  of  Custom,”  the,  131 
Canada,  39,  51 

“  Canada  allows  full  liberty,”  206 
Canadian  Government,  39 
- ,  conditions  granted  by,  48 


331 


332 


INDEX 


Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  55,  56,  57, 
58,  255 

Catechism,  a,  314,  315 
Catherine  the  Great,  10,  106 
Catholicism,  Roman,  and  Quaker¬ 
ism,  109 

Cattle,  freeing  the,  216 
Caucasus,  transportation  to  the,  23, 
147 

Central  Office,  the  Doukhobors’,  213 
Century  Dictionary,  the,  52 
Ceremonies,  religious,  143 
Character  of  Doukhobors,  18,  19 
Choir  patrols  the  street,  a,  256 
“  Chosen  People,”  a,  139 
“  Christ  did  no  physical  work,” 
225 

“  Christian  Commonwealth,”  the,  66 
Christianity  “harmful  to  any 
Government,”  225 
Christ  Jesus,  15 

“  Christ  within,”  the,  14,  16,  102 
Christian  Commune  of  Apostolic 
times,  the,  161 

Christian  ;  Community  of  Universal 
Brotherhood,  the,  7,  59,  140,  162, 
163,  264,  266 

Christian  life,  the,  183,  184,  192, 
275 

Christian  martyrs,  175 

- martyrdom  in  Canada ,  212 

- in  Eussia,  6,  30,  173 

“  Christian  teacldng  is  all  or 
nothing,”  the,  273,  285 
Chronological  summary,  a,  329 
Church  decrees,  18 

- ,  the  true,  16 

Civil  government,  113 

- War,  the  American,  301 

Civilization,  Tolstoy’s  criticism  of, 
247 

Climate,  the  Canadian,  75 
Coercion,  moral,  191 
Communal  accounts,  257 

- experiments,  186 

- life  more  advantageous,  275 

Communes,  188 

Communism,  26,  119,  130,  132,  135, 
167,  183,  184,  194,  246 
Communism,  accompanied  by  despot¬ 
ism,  267 

Communism,  advantages  of,  251 


Communism,  conclusions  concerning, 
268 

Communism,  moral  objection  to,  261 
Community  of  women,  130,  131 
Concealment  of  beliefs,  132 

- of  crimes,  147 

Confession,  17 

“Confidential  Report,  a,”  151 
Conscription,  26,  27,  30,  32,  35,  43 
322 

Conscription  refused,  171 
Constantine  the  Great,  83 
Contrat  Social,  Le,  291  J 
Co-operative  Store,  a,  199 
Cossacks,  the,  106 

- maltreat  Doukhobors,  33,  174 

Council  of  Constance,  the,  80 

- of  Three,  the,  229,  254 

Courts  of  Justice,  132 
Cox,  Professor  and  Mrs.,  72 
Crosby,  Ernest  H.,  68 
Crossley  and  Sons,  John,  55 
C uncliff e,  Dr.,  72 
Cyprus,  77 

- Doukhobors,  46,  203 

Day,  arrangement  of  working,  256 
Definiteness  a  moral  duty,  289 

- ,  its  advantages,  253,  287 

Dementia,  religious,  239 
Devil’s  Lake  Colony,  the,  53,  203 
Diary,  Horsey’s,  89 
Diet,  change  of,  168 
Difficulties  in  Canada,  early,  180 
Discord,  the  spirit  of,  184 
Discourse  on  the  Origin  of  Inequality , 
290 

Dispersion  of  Doukhobors,  34 
Dissenters,  Russian,  296 
Divinity,  inheriting,  149 

- of  Leaders,  145 

Divorce,  201,  318 
Docifius,  100 

Dominion  National  Council  of 
Women,  the,  181 

Don  Cossacks  join  Doukhobors, 
the,  9 

Doukhobor  boy  kicked  to  death,  40 

-  Committee  of  the  Society  of 

Friends,  the,  76 

Doukhobor  duplicity  and  secrecy,  20 
142,  194 


INDEX 


333 


Doukhobor,  fable,  a,  187 

- honesty,  182 

- ,  name,  139,  140,  162 

“  Dou-kho-bors,”  how  to  pro¬ 
nounce,  6 

Doukhobors,  meaning  of,  6 
“  Doukhoboria,”  201 
Doukhobors,  persistency  of  the,  139 
Doutchenko,  N.  I.,  207 
Drobishof,  Peter,  125 
Drougof,  Dr.,  125 

Education,  41 
Eiloart,  Arnold,  47,  64 
Ekaterinograd  penal  battalion,  the,  29 
Ekaterinoslaf  Doukhobors,  the,  15, 
17 

Elders,  the  Thirty,  146 
Elizavetpol  Doukhobors,  150 
Elkinton,  Joseph,  junior,  69,  200 
- ,  senior,  69 

Emigrate,  permission  to,  37,  46 
j Essays  and  Letters ,  Tolstoy’s,  223, 
307 

Evening  Post ,  the,  72 
Explanation,  an  ingenious,  227 
“  Extremes  meet,”  117 

Faith  of  Doukhobors,  the,  11-18 
Fanaticism  of  Nudity  Paraders,  241 
“  Far  from  freedom,”  196 
Fasting,  18 

Fasting  Party,  the,  169,  170,  171, 
172,  174 

“Fatherland,”  the,  170 
Faustus  Socinus,  90 
Ferry,  incident  at  a,  197 
Filibert,  Anna,  148 
Filipovitch,  Danelo,  98,  99,  100 
Fish-eating,  22,  189 
Fofanof,  Nicholas,  192,  193 
Food,  insufficiency  of,  181 
‘  ‘  For  Faith,  for  Tsar,  and  for  Father- 
land,”  170 

Force,  justification  of,  303 

- with  evil,  identification  of,  296 

Fox,  George,  9,  102,  113 
France,  Anatole,  1 
Francis  of  Assisi,  298 
Franciscan  movement,  the,  298 
Free  Age  Press,  the,  220 
Free  Word ,  the ,  240,  243,  315 


“  Freedom  in  Canada,  no,”  205 
Freemasons,  the,  126,  138 
Friends'  Intelligencer ,  the,  69 
Friends,  the  Society  of,  46 
Fruit-eating,  215 

Galician  immigrants,  51,  265 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  160,  281 
“  Gath,  tell  it  not  in,”  219 
Gavit,  John  P.,  66 
George,  Henry,  215,  221 
Georgians,  the,  174 
Gibson  (of  the  “  Christian  Common¬ 
wealth,”)  66 

Glagolief  and  the  Judge,  30 
Gnostics,  the,  7 
God-Man,  a,  152,  173,  178 
“  God’s  earth,”  212 

“ - law,”  206 

“ - truth,”  203 

“ - Work,”  243 

Goodness,  man’s  yearning  to  incar¬ 
nate,  320 

Goubanof,  Michael,  155 
Government,  16,  280 

- founded  upon  violence,  211 

- ,  objection  to,  207 

Grellet,  Stephen,  140 

Handbook ,  a,  220 
Harley,  immigration  agent,  204 
Haxthausen,  Baron  A.  von,  128,  129, 
138,  145,  146,  147 
Hell,  15 
Help  !  60 

Help  needed  by  the  Doukhobors,  181 
Herron,  Professor  G.  D.,  66 
Hilkoff,  Prince  D.  A.,  38,  39,  45, 
46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  53,  54,  64,  65, 
66,  72,  74,  75,  252 
Hiryakova,  E.  D.,  179 
Hlists,  the,  100,  101,  118 
Homesteads,  entry  for,  61 
Horses  and  cattle,  buying  and  selling, 
229 

Horses  and  cattle,  seizure  of,  200,  254 
Hospitality,  192,  197 
How  they  are  governed  ;  Doukhobors 
never  tell,  228 
Howells,  W.  D.,  69,  84 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  the,  58,  258 


334 


INDEX 


Hull  House,  65,  67 

Husbands  and  wives  separated,  267 

Huss,  John,  80,  82,  83 

Iconobor,  6 

Icons,  18 

Ideas,  testing,  300 

In  the  Land  of  Tolstoy,  45 

Incarnation,  14,  20 

Incendiarism,  230 

Individualism  preferred  by  many 
Doukhobors,  252 

Individualist  phraseology,  and  social 
practice,  264 
Infallibility,  320 
- ,  Quaker,  9 

Intercourse  with  exiled  leader,  157 
Intoxicants,  18 
Inward  Voice,  the,  36,  102 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  88,  89,  90 
Ivanof,  Thomas,  92 
Ivin,  Ivan,  45,  46,  48,  49,  53,  56, 
64 

Jenkins,  Howard,  69 
“Jesus  abandoned  manual  labour,” 
215 

John  of  Leyden,  86 
Jones,  Rufus,  69 
Judaizers,  the,  7,  79 

Kalmikof  family,  the,  121 

- ,  Ilarion,  25,  146,  147,  149 

- ,  Peter,  25,  150,  152,  153 

- ,  Vasily,  25,  145 

Kalmikova,  Loukeriya  Vasilyevna, 
24,  25,  150,  151,  153 
Kanigin,  Ivan,  265,  266 

- ,  Gregory,  316 

Kapoustin,  Savely,  20,25,  120,  121, 
127,  129,  130,  131,  132,  133,  136, 
138,  139,  145,  168 
Kapoustin,  doubts  as  to  death  of,  137 

- ,  house  of,  147 

Kars,  settlement  in,  150 
Kingdom  of  God,  162 
Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you ,  the, 
159 

Kola,  Verigin  banished  to,  26 
Kolesnikof,  Sylvan,  17,  107,  113, 
114,  115,  130,  145,  161 


Konshin,  A.  N.,  179 
Kosoy,  88,  89,  90 
Kostamarof,  97 

Kozodavlef,  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
138 

Krasnikova,  Matryona,  226 
Kropotkin,  Peter,  65,  298 
Kullman,  94 

Land,  grants  of,  58 

- ,  making  entry  for  the,  218 

-  question,  the,  200,  202,  231 

- ,  selecting  the,  51 

- ,  the;  “he  owns  who  works 

it,”  221 

Langeron,  Governor  of  Kherson,  136, 
137,  138 

“  Large  Party,”  the,  24,  26,  33, 
166,  167 

Law  Courts,  appeal  to  the,  155 

- and  property,  Tolstoy  against, 

281 

“  Law  is  common  sense,”  294 
Leader  esteemed  as  “  God  and  Tsar,” 
227 

Leaders,  deification  of,  118,  129,  145, 
226,  227 

Leadership,  the,  63,  104,  151 
Leather  boots,  wrong  to  wear,  236 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  299,  300,  301 
Living  Book ,  the,  99,  118,  133 
Lloyd,  H.  D.,  2,  66 
Lollard  movement,  the,  81 
Lopouhin,  Senator,  121,  126 
Loupkin,  Procope,  99 
Luther,  Martin,  84 
Luxury,  16 
Lyovoushka,  150 

McCreary,  W.  F.,  54,  75,  326 
Maciel,  Antonio,  222 
McNicoll,  D.,  57 

Mahortof,  Peter,  45,  46,  48,  49,  56, 
64 

Maine,  Sir  Henry,  292 
Manicheans,  the,  7 
“  Man  need  not  act,”  225 
Manitoba  Free  Press,  236 
Manners  and  customs  of  Doukhobors , 
the,  21 

Marchetti,  G.,  55 


INDEX 


335 


Marriage,  17,  99,  101,  124,  140, 
142,  169,  201 
Martinists,  the,  126 
Maude,  Aylmer,  39,  49,  60,  53,  55, 
56,  62,  65,  71,  322,  326,  327 
Mavor,  Professor  James,  65,  254 
Mennonites,  26,  39,  61,  122,  128, 
133,  135 

Messiah  expected  in  Winnipeg,  the, 
228 

Middle,  or  “Butchers’  ”  Party,  169, 

172 

Migration  to  Canada,  40 

- to  Milky  Waters,  122 

Militarism,  4,  210 
Military  service,  168 

- ,  the  Doukhobors  exempted  from, 

328 

Militia  Act,  61 

Milky  Waters,  11,  23,  25,  122,  123, 
127,  134,  136 

Milky  Waters,  expulsion  from  the, 
149 

Minnedosa,  pilgrims  at,  218 
Mohammedan  tribes,  the,  23,  145, 
154,  171 

Molokans,  the,  88,  92,  104,  117,  119, 
138,  145 

Moore,  George,  305 

Morality :  personal  and  social,  307 

Moravian  Brothers,  the,  84,  161 

Morgan,  James,  55,  56 

Mount,  the  Sermon  on  the,  161 

Mouzhoseyef,  Zot,  124,  125 

Munnich,  104 

Munster  and  the  Anabaptists,  86 
Murders  among  the  Doukhobors, 
146 

Nalimsky,  Father,  136 
Name-day,  Peter  Verigin’s,  33,  172, 

173 

Nationality,  the  Doukhobor,  139 
Naturalization,  311,  313,  314,  316 
Naylor,  James,  103 
Needles  objected  to,  226 
Neledinsky-Meletsky,  Senator,  121 
New  life,  the,  193 
New  Order ,  the ,  212 
New  York  Tribune,  the ,  72 
Nicholas  I.,  146 
- ,  Saint,  92 


No-Government,  210 
Non-resistance,  66,  67,  198 
Non-smokers,  22 
Norderman,  94 

North  (Thunder  Hill)  Colony,  53, 
54,  185,  199 

Novitsky,  Orest,  7,  11,  12,  13,  15, 
16,  18,  19,  20,  21,  103,  120,  146 
Novokshenof,  Fedya,  199 
Nudity  parades,  240,  241 
Nurses’  Settlement,  New  York,  69 

Oath,  in  marriage,  the,  17 
Oath  of  allegiance,  18,  28 
Oaths,  16 

Occupations  of  the  Doukhobors,  24 
“Olhovsky,  V.”  62,  178,  179,  189, 
193,  194,  214 

One-man  power  among  the  Doukho¬ 
bors,  the,  21,  145 
Origin  of  Doukhobors,  the,  6-9 
Orphans’  Home,  the,  133,  147,  149, 
150,  151,  152,  154,  155,  170,  171 
Otradnoe  village,  233 
Ouklein,  Simeon,  119 
Outlook ,  the ,  New  York,  248 

Palitsin,  Governor  of  Tamhof,  124, 
125 

“Paradise  and  Torture,”  146 
Patriotic  selfishness,  312 
Paul,  the  Emperor,  10 
Paulicians,  the,  7,  8 
Pavlovtsi,  the,  181 
Peace  at  any  price,  28 
People,  a  peculiar,  154 

- and  principles,  213 

“  People  without  sin,”  a,  133 
Persecution  of  Doukhobors,  27,  120, 
123 

Peter  of  Chelcic,  83 
Peter  the  Great,  8,  91,  92,  95,  100, 
104 

Philadelphia  Friends,  the,  181,  259 
Physical  force,  161,  295 
Physics  and  Politics ,  261 
Pig’s  flesh,  123 

Pilgrimage  movement,  the,  54,  177, 
199,  216,  218,  219,  222,  233 
Pilgrimage  movement,  a  political 
motive  for  the,  227,  239 


336 


INDEX 


Pilgrimage  movement,  key  to  the, 
224 

Pilgrims  crazy,  217 
Pinkerton,  Robert,  134 
Pipin,  83 

Planidin,  Paul,  191,  229 
Ploughing  done  by  women,  181 
Pobirohin,  Ilarion,  118,  119,  120, 
145 

Politics  concealed  by  religious  phrase¬ 
ology,  202 

Ponamarof,  Ivan,  227 
Popes,  the,  130 
Potapof,  Vasily,  185,  186 
Poterpevshy  village,  233 
Preaching  the  Gospel,  216 
Priesthood,  according  to  the  Doukho- 
bors,  the,  17 

Prince  Albert  Colony,  the,  53,'  179, 
183,  203,  206,  257 
Prison  at  Regina,  in,  242 
Procurateur  de  Judee ,  Le,  1 
Promised  land,  a,  234 
Promises,  immoral,  221 
Property,  a  trust,  303,  308 

- ,  the  healthy  root  of,  287 

- ,  does  it  represent  selfishness  ? 

284 

Property,  “to  acknowledge,  is  to 
acknowledge  murder,”  272 
Property,  the  Tolstoyan  attack  upon, 
286 

“  Prophet  and  Tsar,”  156 
Proselytizing,  136 
Psychic-religious  epidemics,  222 
Purleigh,  Essex,  45 

Quaker,  a ;  supposed  founder  of  the 
Doukhobors,  7,  8,  102,  103 
Quakers ,  the ,  9,  42 

- ,  the,  14,  26,  42,  61,  68,  77, 

101,  102,  113,  126,  140,  185 
Quarantine,  179,  180 
Rabetz,  Marie,  179 
Raskol,  the,  94 

Raskolniks,  the,  95,  96,  98,  104 

- ,  the,  burn  themselves,  97 

Reaction,  the  force  of,  296 
Read,  learning  to ;  the  Doukhobors 
discouraged  from,  131 
Redemption,  the  scheme  of,  103 
Remezof,  189 


Resurrection,  the,  15 
Rock  of  Faith ,  the,  105 
Rogers,  Thorold,  81 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  290,  291 
Russian  Peasantry,  the ,  70,  96 
Russian  Press,  the,  60 
Ryazanof,  Vasily,  242 

Sabbatarians,  80 
Sacraments,  the  Church,  16,  17 
Saints,  the,  18 

St.  John,  Captain  Arthur,  30,  179, 
200 

Saint-Martin,  L.  C.  de,  114,  115, 
126 

Salisbury,  Lord,  65 
“  Sample  ”  Doukhobors,  39 
Saposhnikof,  98 

Saskatchewan  Colonies,  the,  53,  54, 
253 

Saskatoon  Settlements,  53 
Satz,  Sasha,  179 

School,  refused  by  the  Doukhobors, 
259 

Schools,  endowment  of,  58 
Secretiveness  of  Doukhobors,  20, 
142,  194 

Self-acting  evolution,  36 
Semenof,  Matthew,  89 
Senega  root,  258 
“  Settlers,  most  desirable,”  327 
Sex-Question,  the,  100,  131,  167,169 
Sexual  morality,  25 
Sharapova,  A.  27.,  182 
Shaughnessy,  Sir  Thomas,  56 
Shaw,  Miss  Flora  (Lady  Lugard),  53 
Sherbinin,  Michael,  29 
Shervashidze,  Prince,  151,  155 
Siberia,  banishment  to,  37 
Sifton,  Hon.  Clifford,  54 
Single-Taxers,  the,  215 
Skoptsi,  the,  100,  118 
Skovoroda,  Gregory,  115,  116,  117 
Slavery  of  our  Times ,  the ,  290 
“  Small  Party,”  the,  24,  33,  166, 
167,  171,  172 

Smart,  James  A.,  Deputy  Minister, 
54,  326 

Smith,  Goldwin,  65 

- ,  Miss  Mary,  R.,  65 

- ,  William,  81 

Smoking,  non-,  167 


INDEX 


337 


Social  tyranny  among  the  Dou- 
khobors,  20 

Sophia,  the  Empress,  95 
Soulerzhitsky,  Leopold,  73,  74,  77, 
78,  178,  200 

Souls,  the  transmigration  of,  129,  145 
Souslof,  Ivan,  99 

South  Colony,  the,  53,  54,  185,  186, 
253 

“  Spoiling  the  earth,”  215 
Statistics,  vital,  61,  62,  218 
Stead,  W.  T.,  305 
Steam  mills,  255 
Stepniak,  96,  98,  148 
Streltsi,  suppression  of  the,  8 
Strelyaef,  Ivan,  189 
Stundist  Russians,  240 
Sturge,  William,  77 
Summer,  a  second,  expected,  217 
Suspiciousness  of  Doukhobors,  134 
Swan  River  Doukhobors,  the,  253 
Swynderby,  William,  81 

Tambof  Doukhobors,  13,  15 
Taxpayers,  the  Doukhobors  punctual, 
134 

Tchertkoff,  Vladimir,  35,  45,  46,  49, 
55,  56,  62,  174,  194,  220,  244, 
259 

Tebenkof,  M.,  154 
Temperance,  22,  167 
Temptation  to  work,  the,  216 
Terpenie  village,  191 
Theocracy,  the  Doukhobor,  20 
Theophylact,  105 

Thinking  with  our  own  minds,  a 
reason  for,  283 
Thomas,  Dr.  R.  H.,  69 
Thoreau,  H.  D.,  43,  166 
Thunder  Hill  Colony,  53 
Tiflis  Settlement,  150 
Tilling  the  ground,  wrongness  of,  215 
“  Time  has  come  for  us,  the,”  36,  37 
Times,  the,  35,  174 
Tobacco,  26 

Tolstoi  et  les  Doukhobors ,  173 
Tolstoy,  Leo,  35,  55,  59,  60,  63,  69, 
78,  111,  114,  117,  163,  164,  165, 
166,  174,  175,  182,  184,  210,  211, 
221,  226,  243,  250,  251,  259,  278, 
279,  290,  291,  292,  293,  298,  300, 
301,  303,  307,  309 


Tolstoy,  Leo,  a  criticism  of,  278 

- ,  a  letter  from,  270,  284 

- ,  didactic  works  of,  279 

- ,  his  teaching  and  his  banishment, 

297 

Tolstoy,  Leo,  humanity’s  debt  to,  310 

- ,  influence  of,  on  Peter  Verigin, 

148,  159,  160,  161 
Tolstoy,  movement,  the,  298 

- ,  the  teaching  of ;  the  duty  of 

challenging,  297 
Tolstoy,  Count  Sergius,  178 
Tolstoyans,  the,  59,  60,  63,  64,  158, 
165,  174,  177,  194,  205,209,  212, 
219,  221 

Tolstoyan  philosophy,  the,  183,  204 

Totius,  Arch- Abbot,  126 

Transylvania,  91 

Treasury,  a  common,  186 

Tregoubof,  John,  62 

Tribute,  131 

Trinity,  the,  12 

Truthfulness,  the  rarity  of,  232 
Tugenbund,  126 
Tumen,  97 
Turner,  F.  S.,  9,  42 
Turkish  War,  the,  150,  167 
Tveritinof,  91,  92,  93 
Tverskoy,  P.  A.,  74,  75 
Two  Wars,  211 

Ukraine,  106,  111,  117 
Unitarians,  90 

Use  of  metals  denounced,  the  215 

Varney,  Mrs.,  77 
Vegetarianism,  18,  22,  167,  168 
Velitchkina,  V.  M.,  179 
Verigin,  Peter,  24,  25,  26,  27,  37, 
42,  62,  63,  76,  151,  152,  153, 
154,  157,  158,  159,  160,  161,  162, 
163,  164,  166,  168,  169,  170,  178, 
182,  189,  194,  195,  201,  207,  208, 
209,  214,  218,  224,  228,  229,  230, 
245,  250,  251,  254,  256,  257,  262, 
263,  264,  311,  313,  317,  318 
Verigin,  Peter,  banished,  156 

- ,  rouses  his  followers,  156 

- ,  diplomacy  of,  228 

- ,  influence  of,  229,  230 

- ,  reforms  of,  167 

- ,  the  wife  of,  154 


z 


338 


INDEX 


Verigin,  Peter,  Letters  of,  223 

- ,  Gregory,  233 

Verigina,  Anastasya,  153,  179,  235 
Vereshagin,  Vasily,  206 
Verovka  village,  192 
Villages  built  by  -women,  180 

- ,  the  names  of  the,  144 

Vinogradoff,  Paul,  292 
Violence,  274 
Von  Menik,  assessor,  125 
Vorobyef,  Alexey,  173 
Vorontsof,  Count,  146,  148 
Voznesenie  village,  190,  204 

Wald,  Miss  L.,  69 
War,  16,  18,  167,  301  4 


Wet  Mountains,  banishment  to  the, 
23, 

Wet  Mountains,  the  climate  of  the,  24 
What  is  Art ?  66,  111 
Why  Doukhobors  live  communally, 
195 

Women,  the  Doukhobor,  312 
“  Work  as  much  as  possible,”  274 
Work  while  ye  have  the  Light ,  304 
Wyclif,  John,  80,  82,  298 

Yavorsky,  Stephen,  105 

Zibarof,  Nicholas,  190,199,  229 
“  Zion,”  133,  144 
Zirtchoukof,  Peter,  242 


THE  END 


PRINTED  BV  WILLIAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  LIMITED,  LONDON  AND  BECCLES. 


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